


Team Dark in "The Silent Machine" (Formerly Shadow's Partner Paradox)

by EdgyTheHedgy



Series: The Team Dark Anthology [1]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Author is Not Dead, Gen, More descriptive tags in each chapters Notes, Writer who hasn't written in 2 years
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:48:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 32,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25524679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EdgyTheHedgy/pseuds/EdgyTheHedgy
Summary: *I have revised some wording and retconned some characters because I've learned a little more about the whole Sonic thing. Still working on the 2nd in the trilogy and I am happy to report the writing is less bad!In Team Darks first venture, it may very well be their last! Unfortunately for Shadow he has been assigned one of the new trainees about to graduate from G.U.N.'s academy and is to help him prove himself in the field. Shadow, to say the least, is not happy about this unwanted partnership and may just be willing to do anything to get out of it.
Series: The Team Dark Anthology [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1894756
Kudos: 7





	1. A Horrible Day

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! You may have noted a name change and description change. That's because I wanted to rebrand the series to give myself more flexibility and better branding. I may in the future take some steps to re-write these chapters because as of now I am writing "Final Eclipse" which is the 2nd story of this series and is a direct continuation of "The Silent Machine". I have also entertained the idea of combining the two stories into a mega-story called "Team Dark in 'Final Eclipse of the Silent Machine' " but I'm not sold on that idea just yet. Take care, have a good day!
> 
> Just want to mention that Shadow's partner is an OC I thought up. I understand that's not everyone's thing but my reasoning is that it provides me more capabilities than making it any known character, and better puts you in Shadows shoes of "who is this? why should I care about him?".
> 
> Also, be prepared for references.
> 
> Content Notice; Angst  
> Word Count; 1215

No.” Shadow said flatly, he wasn’t doing this. He’d sooner live the rest of his life with the Faker and his little brother… On second thought that was absolutely terrifying but that shouldn’t take away from just how awful this situation was.

“Oh come on, at least give it a go. Besides the situation is out of our control, they’ve already gone ahead and made it official so I suggest you learn to cope with it big boy.” Rouge said, clearly enjoying the uncharacteristically uncomfortable Shadow.

Shadow grunted angrily, opening the door to leave the G.U.N building that he’d just been in for the past three hours in a meeting, or at least it felt like three hours after hearing the news.

“I don’t need any extra help, you and Omega are enough as is.” Shadow said continuing down the path to the apartment complex on the building grounds.

“Trust me hon I know, but I’m sure it won’t be for too long. I’m sure if they’re assigning someone new to work with you Shadow, then they’re more than competent enough” Rouge offered in assurance, she didn’t like being split up from her team either but at least she wasn’t having to deal with a new kid.

“I doubt it.” Shadow retorted.

The rest of the walk to their respective buildings was quiet. Shadow opened the door to his apartment and sighed, at least he’d be alone for the time being. He walked to the couch and lay down on it, a blanket draped over the couch falling over top of him. Shadow lay motionless for a moment before wrapping the blanket around his back and arms and moving to the window, opening it. The wind blowing by made the already cold day even more unbearable.

“Hm, I’ve got better things to do with my time than babysit some kid. Maybe if I get lost I’ll just be able to avoid it.” Shadow mused to himself. Closing the window he tosses the blanket to the couch and opens the front door, walking out and to the public garage on site. On the way there he catches a glimpse of someone or something watching him but he doesn’t dare turn to face it. Instead continuing on and heading for his motorcycle, perhaps a long drive would clear his head.

_-_-_-_

Having parked his motorcycle by the park and walked to a bench that faced nowhere with a particularly good view, Shadow hoped to be alone for a while. But that’s just too much to ask for isn’t it?

“Heya Shadow!” Said an unfortunately familiar blue hedgehog.

“What do you want.” Shadow stated. It wasn’t that he hated Sonic, it’s just that he really heavily disliked Sonic and almost everything he stood for.

“Jeez Shadow, did I catch you on a bad day?” Sonic said, almost sounding genuinely concerned.

Shadow waited, wait was he actually concerned? He normally made a joke out of the situat-

“Oh wait that’s every day isn’t it?” Sonic laughed.

There it was.

“I’m fine.” Shadow said defeatedly.

“Sure doesn’t sound fine to me pal.” Sonic said, creeping closer to the bench and sitting down uninvited.

“Then check your hearing.” Shadow said standing up to leave.

“Wait! Don’t go yet!” Sonic called after Shadow, who for some reason stopped. He wasn’t sure quite why he did.

“What do you want, Faker?” Shadow stated, still not having fully turned around.

“I wanted to help you, you’re my friend after all.” Sonic said, rocking back and forth on his feet.

“You consider us friends?” Shadow asked.

“Yeah, I consider us to be friends.” Sonic said flashing a smile.

“Well I don’t.” Shadow said, continuing to walk away. He watched the smile drop from Sonic’s face. It wasn’t true, he did consider the hedgehog to be a friend, a very annoying and bothersome one at that, but a friend nevertheless. However he just wanted to have his space. Walking to his bike he got on and drove off. Watching a not so stealthy blue blur trail him.

_-_-_-_

Shadow parked his motorcycle on the side of the road in the middle of a mostly deserted highway. It had to be closer to sunrise than sunset at this point. Shadow swung himself to get off the side facing away from the road. He walked to the end of the runoff and looked around him for the blue faker, after not seeing any sign of him he went to get back on his motorcycle when once more Sonic caught up to him.

“Hey buddy, please at least tell me what’s wrong. I get that I was a bit rude earlier but I do care.” Sonic said, and as much as Shadow didn’t want to talk he did genuinely look sorry.

“Fine. I’ll tell you.” Shadow said whilst kicking a rock. A few cars passed behind them, one of their bright lights reflecting off their eyes and blinding them slightly. Sonic waited patiently.

“I have been unwillingly assigned a new partner who I’ll have to babysit, they’ve split me from my team until he proves self sufficient. I’ve had no say in it and I don’t want to do it.” Shadow said while folding his arms.

“Well is there anything you can do about it?” Sonic asked hopefully.

“Not unless I quit.” Shadow replied.

“Well when do you start?” Sonic sez, trying to get all the information he can.

“I meet him later today, and we depart for our first mission two days after.” Shadow answered trying to still think of a way to get out of this

“If you want we could always try and get everyone together for a party so you can get to know him better without it being too awkward.” Suggested the blue blur.

“Being at one of your parties is awkward enough, besides I don’t _want_ to get to know him better, I want to go back to how it was before.” Shadow stated coolly.

“Hmm, mmm… Hmmm” Sonic thought hard to try and help his friend with this situation.

“What if I introduce myself to him before you do, then I can tell you what he’s like.” Sonic came up with it after a few minutes. Shadow yawned deeply before watching the moon start to die and the sun begin it’s ascent.

“If it makes you happy, then you can.” Shadow said getting back onto his bike and restarting it, heading for the city. Shadow didn’t intend to go to his home, a motel sounded much more pleasant. Or at the very least it was further away from his problems which was a plus.

_-_-_-_

Shadow lay on the cool bed sheets facing the ceiling with it’s oddly shaped pattern. Sleep would soon take him but not soon enough.

For the next few minutes Shadow tossed and turned and changed the coverage of the blankets and sheets. Nothing seemingly comfortable. He sighed and looked at the alarm clock which read “4:45 AM”. Shadow normally woke up in 15 minutes on a work day. He headed for the shower and closed the door, he’d just chaos control out of the motel when he was done, after all that’s how he got the room in the first place. Today was not a good day.


	2. A Good Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Content Notice: N/A  
> Word Count: 1140

“Today is going to be a good day.” Remarked a panther laying in his bed in his brand new apartment, stacked with cardboard boxes. He got out of the bed and turned on the stereo he’d been gifted as some song he didn’t recognize played, but whoever it was liked stating that “I can’t believe today was a good day”, which was a sentiment he couldn’t agree more with. Besides, the backing track was great so he was into it. He walked to the nearby bathroom and looked at his reflection. His black fur coated his body entirely with the exception of the greenish-purple glint of his eyes. He splashed his face with water before heading to the kitchen to make himself some coffee. However the moment he got a bag of coffee beans he heard a knock on the door. He headed to his room to turn the stereo down slightly as to not be rude before opening the door. In front of him stood a shockingly blue hedgehog.

“Uh, can I help you man?” The panther asked.

“Oh hey, are you Shadow’s new partner?” The hedgehog asked.

“Er, yeah why? Did plans change or something? Wait, do you even work for G.U.N I don’t think I’ve seen you before? Are you Shadow?” The black panther fired off questions.

“Woah easy there buddy, I’m not Shadow I’m one of his friends. My name is Sonic, what’s your name?” The forign hedgehog named Sonic asked.

“My name is uh, My name is Ozul.” The panther stated before continuing. “You want to come in or something? I’m a little busy with preparing for one of the biggest days of my life but hey, if you're a friend of Shadow then I’ve no doubt you’ll be a friend of mine soon enough.”

Sure enough, Sonic entered the apartment and Ozul went to the kitchen while Sonic leaned against the kitchen counter. The kitchen itself was really just an area surrounded by cabinets and counters meaning there was a hole all the way around. If you were to throw the door open enough you could probably hit it off the counter. Ozul went back to making coffee trying to think of something to ask this new guest, after all if he was a friend of Shadow then he’d surely be able to help him start off on the right foot with his partner.

“So uh, what’s Shadow even like?” Ozul said, continuing to brew coffee.

“Well, he’s not very… Social. He’s had his share of rough events in his life and he doesn’t like to talk about it much. But if I were to highlight anything about him, he’s very dedicated to his friends and works hard to achieve his goals.” Sonic said looking over the barren apartment.

“Oh right on, how should I go about being friends with him? If he’s not very social then I don’t wanna push things with the guy.” Ozul pondered as he poured the coffee into a mug.

“I guess just be yourself, he’ll probably be distant and untrusting of you at first. Heck he might even despise you for some time like he despised me.” Sonic said pausing for a brief moment.

“Oh shoot, do you want some coffee?” Ozul offered realizing to himself that he should’ve probably offered some earlier.

“No I’m fine, thanks for the offer though.” Sonic said dismissively waving his hand.

“Sorry for interrupting you then.” Ozul said with a tinge of remorse in his voice.

“It’s fine Ozul.” Sonic laughed before continuing. “I guess what I’d take away from this if I were you is this. He’s not very social and he might not like you right now, but give him time and try to get on his good side and he’ll be more accepting of you. Anyways I have to get going, I promised a certain friend I’d help him with his plane today and I don’t want to make him wait any longer.” Sonic said raising himself from the counter and moving to the door.

“Alright that’s cool, and thanks for the help man I appreciate that.” Ozul said coming from around the counter and opening the door for Sonic.

“Yeah, hope to see you around Ozul.” Sonic said turning for the door and stepping foot out of it.

“Likewise man.” Ozul said, offering his hand to Sonic. Sonic took his hand and shook it firmly before he was gone in a flash.

“Cool dude that Sonic guy.” Ozul said before closing the door and moving back to his room, after all he’d have to prepare and look nice if he were to meet someone he was going to spend the foreseeable future with in the field.

_-_-_-_

Shadow waited in the parking garage where he kept his motorcycle standing next to it. Watching as spurts of blue appeared and disappeared. He took note that unfortunately he’d exited the building that Shadow lived in, meaning there was a chance he’d run into his new partner before he wanted to. Speaking of quicker than he liked Sonic was at his side looking off into the distant skyline shrouded by trees that Shadow had been looking at.

“So?” Shadow asked, he had to admit he was at least a little curious but he still didn’t care that much.

“He seems like a nice enough guy, he offered me some coffee and invited me in and we talked for a bit.” Sonic replied having turned his head to Shadow, gripping the railing with both hands.

“What’d you talk about.” Shadow asked, still looking off to the skyline, the sun perfectly shining through the hole behind them and glinting off his motorcycle into his eye.

“Well, he just wanted to know what you were like.” Sonic answered.

“What did you tell him?” Shadow questioned his answer.

“I told him that you were a silent but otherwise good friend.” Sonic answered the question to his answer.

“Hmph.” Shadow grunted

“Well Shads, I gotta get back home before Tails wakes up and worries that I’ve been kidnapped, we’ve got a plane to build today.” Sonic said before dashing off in an instant.

“I  _ hate  _ that nickname.” Shadow stated before walking to the stairs, taking each one methodically.

He finally exited the parking garage and headed for a building seemingly made out of shipping containers, perhaps he could work on his skills at the gym while trying to figure out what he’d do about this situation. He noticed a few extra stark white shipping containers near the building with a few crewmen loitering around near it but thought nothing of it. His thoughts were too consumed by the fear, no not fear, fear would insinuate that he was scared which he was not. He more so just dreaded it, this was going to blow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact, the name "Ozul" was chosen because it meant Shadow and I just quite enjoyed how it sounded. I thought about changing it a few times but the name stuck. The choice of Panther was no coincidence either.


	3. Testing, testing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Content Notice: Blood, Mention of Tobacco  
> Word Count: 2280

Ozul adjusted his glove placement for the 10th time, before then noticing some stray fur and trying to fix that too. As he did he pondered his name and the irony in it’s meaning, who knew one's name could so closely reflect one's life. He wasn’t even sure if he knew of anyone in existence with the same name as his, but he liked it well enough. It was pleasant to say and made him think it was perhaps the name for the color of his eyes, he still didn’t have the right word for it but they were certainly greenish-purple. Giving himself one last look down, he turned the stereo off in his room and moved to the coat rack, putting on the jacket gifted to him by G.U.N for cold weather situations. Judging by the light snowfall that was starting, he could get away with wearing it. He hoped the snow would end soon, after all it was only the middle of December.

Taking in his sights he watched as groups of businessmen filed into the main building, parking their fancy cars and the fancier ones having others do it for them. Meanwhile groups of soldiers, and a few mobians, one of which was trailing the group coming from the parking garage who looked particularly annoyed and lost in thought were headed for the gym. He’d have made his way there too if it wasn’t for the specific instruction to head to the new building that had been set up for him to test his skills in front of his new partner. He passed the loitering workers and opened the door, hanging his coat up in a nearby locker and shutting it. Walking past the benches and shrubbery he looked to his left seeing the obstacle course set out for him. He opened the doors that lead into the course, he might as well practice it before doing the real thing.

_-_-_-_

Shadow finished his grueling fight with the punching bag with nothing having come to mind, except for the hole he’d punched through it that he’d have to pay for. Dejectedly walking away from the bag and to the door he was unexpectedly caught up by Rouge who’d opened the door before Shadow could get to it.

“They want you to watch your new  _ friend  _ go through an obstacle course.” Rouge said, putting emphasis on the word “friend”.

“Why? and we’re not friends.” Shadow responded.

“Because, they don’t want to send two people who’ve never met out into the field.” Rouge offered before continuing. “Now c’mon, I think you’ll like him.”

“I doubt that.” Shadow said whilst trailing her.

“Mm, well he does have an interesting way of going about things, and he’s not too bad a looker either.” Rouge said flying over the snow and opening the door.

“How would you know?” Shadow asked, he’s still yet to even catch a glimpse of who he’s working with.

“He’s been practicing, trust me he’s got a good idea of what he’s doing.” Rouge stated which ended their conversation.

The pair walked through a set of metal doors before reaching a viewing platform reserved for Shadow, Rouge, and a few commanding G.U.N Officers. Shadow took a seat and looked around for the starting point, watching a black furred figure stretch and prepare themselves for the task ahead. Suddenly a buzzer sounded and the lights dimmed to simulate a nighttime environment.

_-_-_-_

Setting himself in stance he waited for the buzzer to sound and inform him on the task, and sure enough the buzzer sounded and the lights dimmed.

“This first test will be to test your reflexes and ability to enter an area undetected in a hostile environment. Inside we have hidden a replica of a chaos emerald. You are to retrieve the emerald at all costs and escape with it to the end location, when you have finished you may press the buzzer. The soldiers have been provided with rubber bullets and you are permitted to attack, as are they. When the buzzer sounds the timer will begin and you are permitted to start.” The cold monotone voice cuts off.

Ozul shoots a glance up high and to the right, noting a large timer displaying “00:00:00.00”, below it sat a balcony of G.U.N. officers, beside them sat an uncomfortable Hedgehog and the Bat who’d been watching him through the glass earlier. He thought to wave but the buzzer sounded before he could and he knew he had no time to waste.

First things first, get to the darkness. Patrolmen walking back and forth guarding the fences. Few more guards in the paths. Few trees dotted around the places, might be a good vantage point. Let’s just hope they’ve got grippable surfaces.

Okay, high ground, patrolman under me, just one… Doesn’t seem like anyone else takes this route, wait for him to get near that rock and pounce, drag him behind it. Three, two.. NOW.

Leaves rustling, that’s a giveaway. At least I landed silently, grab the guy. Hand over the mouth, the other arm trapping his arm. Drag him carefully behind the rock. He’s a patrolman, probably won’t get any info from him. Knock him out and keep him there. Make sure to turn off his radio. Tree inside the fences, could probably jump from one tree to another to enter.

Leaves rustling again. Another dead giveaway but no one has acted on it. Step carefully on the branch, if we do this right we can enter through the roof. OW. Don’t slam your body into concrete, be quiet about the pain we can deal with it. Low to the ground, crawl along the roof. No patrol up here. They’ve left a skylight open, but I bet they’re expecting me to enter from there. Ventilation system, that’d work. Open the screws and remove the cover. Crawl quietly, not much space but more than enough room for error.

_-_-_-_

“So what do you think so far?” Rouge asked in a hushed whisper.

“Hm, he’s certainly efficient.” Shadow responded in a similar tone.

“I knew you’d like him.” Rouge responded a little too loudly, receiving a few shushes from the people next to her.

_-_-_-_

Drop down from the vent, probably won’t make it back up there, I need a new exit. Convenient, not many soldiers around. In fact I think the room I need to be in is right next to me, the glass window shows an emerald. Doors locked. Commanding officer has the key.. Hmm, huh. Cardboard box, tacky but could work. Speaking of the CO here he comes. He unlocked the room, brought a soldier in with him. They’re talking, too much talking. Finally the soldier left.. CO is still in there, doors still open. Lift the box open, peer inside. CO’s facing the wall. Too easy. 

Pounced on him, took the key. Vent above me doesn’t look friendly. Also a vent leading outside, should open that first in case of alarm. Use his keys as a screwdriver. Easy. No time like the present. Gem in hand, alarm is vacant but the door shut itself. Gas from the vent, time to go. On the dirt, no real escape in sight. Alarm going now, they probably will be here soon... Barbed wire fence in front of me, just need a running start. Here goes.

…

  
  


…

Cleared. Dash to the shadows. They’re surrounding the old location, now to the exit. Buzzer pressed, lights on. 00:04:53.77. Distant clapping, that’s probably good.

“Congratulations, you have cleared the course in” The female robotic voice ended with a robotic male voice cutting in to read the time. “00:04:53.77” the female voice came back “which is a new record. Take a moment to catch your breath before moving onto the next section.”

“Oh good, a moment to catch my brea-”

“Good, now prepare yourself for the second test. This test will challenge your skills in parkour and evasion. As such, you will promptly be chased down by an assault team. You are to retrieve a replica chaos emerald and to leave the one you have just retrieved on the ground beside you. When the buzzer sounds the timer will begin and you are permitted to start.” The cold monotone voice cuts off once again.

No time for resting I suppose.

_-_-_-_

Shadow stood out of his seat as a buzzer sounded and the lights turned a dark shade of red. Rouge attempted to grab his arm but he continued to walk out. Opening the doors he walked to the hall and left to the nearby bathroom, not because he needed to use it but more that he wanted to be alone and that this was a believable excuse. Grabbing a Styrofoam cup and filling it with water he continued his walk. Having made it he rested against the sink, sipping intermittently.

“This just became a lot more complicated…” Shadow mused.

Shadow patiently waited, trying to figure out how the two would even work together, it was clear that his new partner's style was slow and methodical, not to say that he couldn’t do it himself, but he clearly also worked alone. This was never going to work. Shadow’s mind blanked after that thought and he finished his water, throwing the cup in a trash can filled to the brim with brown paper towels. Walking back to the viewing platform he heard a loud buzzer go off and the lights change from red to normal once more. Opening the door he saw his new partner kneeling and trying to catch his breath.

“Come on, get up.” Shadow said quietly.. Wait that can’t be right, what does he care about this insignificant person. Fail, fail harshly. Fail so I can go back to what’s comfortable.

Rouge shot Shadow a glance which was only returned with an arm fold and a fiery stare.

One of the G.U.N Officers turned to a sitting Shadow and began a story Shadow had no interest in.

“You ever hear the tragedy of D-”

_-_-_-_

Much time had passed since Shadow had come back, he had to have been here for more than an hour at least. At least he’d finally figured out what to do about the new recruit. If he pushed him away enough and made him hate him, there’d be no reason for the kid to want to stay with Shadow. If that didn’t work he could always just plan a mission to… well not quite go to plan. He watched as the distant figure fought wave after wave of combatant. He looked closer and saw just how out of it the recruit was, he was careful not to kill anyone but if you hadn’t been watching you’d assume there’d been some deaths with the amount of blood and sweat trickling off of his skin and fur.

“You holding up alright?” Rouge asked while putting a hand on Shadow’s shoulder.

“I-I’m fine.” Shadow shuddered through that sentence

Putting a hand over his forearm he noticed that he was sweating and shaking very slightly, you’d have to have been studying him extremely closely to notice. Standing to excuse himself once more he left for the hallway again. Heading to the water cooler and getting another drink he walked to the bathroom and this time locked himself in a stall, a few workmen had made their way in and were having a smoke break. He lent against the door and gingerly brought the cup to his lips.

“What the hell was that…” Shadow mumbled before sipping.

Thankfully for Shadow, the workers soon left the bathroom and to that extent the building. Which gave Shadow the room to himself. Unlocking the stall door he moved to the mirror. Color had returned that he didn’t even know was gone and he’d stop shaking as much. Quietly finishing the water in the cup he set it on the counter and braced himself against it, keeping his head low for a moment before looking straight into the mirror. He opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. Hearing footsteps he shook his head and made his way out of the bathroom, bringing his Styrofoam cup with him and refilling it this time. He still didn’t dare enter the viewing platform, not until he could calm himself from whatever had just happened.

_-_-_-_

Ozul didn’t think he could take this anymore, he’d been fighting for the last 28 minutes straight. Still, at least there’s only 2 more minutes left but he’d still have to get through it. Patience, that’s what he needed. Just keep outsmarting them, ignore the fact that a few of them seem to be genuinely trying to kill you and just focus on outsmarting them.

Ozul jumped from one person to the next before getting caught by a stray rifle end, being clocked in the head he hit the ground hard. Foot after foot gun after gun pummeled into his back. He tried his hardest to claw into the ground and push himself up to catch a glimpse of the timer. Stopped at 00:00:04.99, how cruel. Boots stomped aggressively on his fingers trying to get him to fall down. No, he must stand up. He MUST. Slowly he managed to get himself to a knee, this was a good sign. Other knee up, now he was squating awkwardly on the back of his boots. Groggily standing he’d almost made it. COME ON JUST A LITTLE FURTHE-

Darkness and a sharp pain to the head ended his efforts, after that, he had no idea what had just happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope these 3 chapters have served as a good introduction. More to come soon!


	4. Chaos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Content Notice: Violence, Mention of Blood  
> Word Count: 2329

Shadow calmly disposed of his cup and pressed himself against the glass of the door. Watching the onslaught of soldiers beating his to-be partner. He may not like the guy or even know of him yet, but this was too much. Shadow made his way out of view of most people and took out a Chaos Emerald.

“Chaos Control!” Said Shadow in possibly the quietest voice he’d ever said it.

Shadow soon found himself in the power room, the plan of attack was simple. He’d take out anyone walking around here, move a heavy object in front of the door, and Chaos Control to the middle of the testing area where he’d take out the assailants. Looking around the small room he noted both the lack of anyone in the room with him and the lack of anything to close the door for longer than a few seconds. Okay, this is still workable. Shadow, holding his Chaos Emerald in one hand and the breaker switch in the other pulled down with force on the switch.

“CHAOS CONTROL!” Shadow said in a voice much louder than earlier.

Shadow as expected had landed in the middle of the circle platform, though he might have just accidentally kicked someone on landing.

“CHAOS BLAST!” Shadow shouted, a blinding light red aura piercing through the room and knocking even the people in the viewing platform back.

“CHAOS CONTROL!” Shadow was back on the viewing platform, standing in front of the commanding officers facing the platform. The power turned back on and temporarily blinded the already temporarily blinded Commanding Officers and Rouge. Shadow turned his head to face the person who he’d just saved. Watching as they struggled to their feet but eventually making it. Charcoal, blood, smoke, and bruises coated the once perfectly black fur of the mobian. The uncaring timer continued it’s countdown.

4 seconds

3 seconds

2 seconds

1 second

0 seconds.

**_BZZT_ **

“Congratulations, you have completed the 7th and final trial. You are now free to spend the day as you like.” The cold monotone voice was gone, instead replaced by what sounded like a nervous intern.

Shadow and the figure made eye contact for a moment before he fell back to his knees and eventually to his back due to exhaustion. Shadow turned to the door and walked out as several doctors and other medical personnel made their way to the scene.

What had Shadow done?

_-_-_-_

Shadow had to have been walking for at least the past two hours. He was cold, miserable, and exhausted though he’d never say it aloud. The only stop having been to his apartment for a traveler's cloak. Or at least that’s what Rouge called it, Shadow just considered it to be a jacket that someone failed to create arms for. He hadn’t even meant to take it specifically, it just came with instead of what he had wanted and he wasn’t bothered enough to change it out. The snowfall had very much picked up, it seemed as if a blizzard was brewing. Shadow had no clue where he was walking to, but he knew that whatever his destination was, it wasn’t anywhere near where he was. A bi-plane rumbled over Shadow, it’s descent into the dying sun showing it’s Yellow and Blue colors proudly. Speaking of bi-planes… Oh no, how of all places was this the way he was headed? Shadow flipped up his hood and looked downtrodden, hoping it’d let him pass by the shack that Sonic and Tails called their home in peace. Meanwhile to his right a yellow-ish orange fox moved up the runway, having noticed a part had been dropped. Unfortunately for Shadow, he had just accidentally kicked said part, which was in fact a rather large hunk of metal, which both hurt from the impact and that his face was now burning with snow. He lay there with no response for the current event cycle.

“So- …. me... ickly!” was all Shadow could make out, but even without having been able to hear it properly he knew exactly who was speaking and what was said.

“Hey Sh- … … … … runway …” Shadow couldn’t make out exactly what Sonic had said, but to be honest he was actively trying to hear him less anyways.

After a few moments Shadow concocted a plan, if he just pretended to be knocked out perhaps Sonic would think he’d mistaken Shadow for someone he didn’t know and just send him on his way. And with that Shadow promptly felt his vision go from stinging white to a numb black.

_-_-_-_

“Maria-...” Shadow whimpered, pulling the bed sheets and blankets closer and sinking under them into his pillow. He moved his legs closer to his chest and shuddered, why was he so cold?

Slowly a dim yellow light filled the room, the door cracked ajar into the hallway. The sound of static from a TV gently hummed through the air. A pair of voices talked distantly. Shadow slowly opened his eyes and noticed almost instantly that this was  _ not _ any house he resided in. He tried to move but made a weak grunt before sinking back into the pillow. Shadow thought quickly, had he been poisoned? He listened to the conversation in the living room closely.

“Is he going to be.. Okay?” A recognizable young fox asked.

“He’ll be okay, he just needs some rest.” An even more unfortunately recognizable faker responded.

So he was in Sonic's house, in a foreign bed, listening to them live their lives while trying to recover from… Recover from what exactly?

“Should we check up on Shadow?” Tails asked, the sound of the couch shifting under his movement could be faintly heard.

“No, I don’t think he’d want us to. Knowing him he’ll Chaos Control out of here before any of us get a chance to speak to him and he’ll never want to speak about it.” Sonic responded, listening closer he could hear him stand and turn off the television.

“Now, we should rest too. After all, we've got another big day tomorrow.” Sonic said authoritatively.

“Okay” Tails dragged out before trotting off to a room across from Shadow’s own.

Shadow watched as Sonic disappeared behind the sliver left for Shadow to see from, a door opened and closed quickly. Soon not a light was left in the house, and everything for the first time in a long time, was completely and utterly silent.

The scratching and squeaking of some unknown noise broke the minute long silence. The door of a room shakily opened before shutting but not all the way, the noise of a fan carrying through the house. Shadow watched as his door opened ajar, he quickly pretended to close his eyes but squinted at the figure. What was Tails even up to? Quietly footsteps crept closer to his bed before what sounded like a sheet of paper pressed down against the nightstand. Tails waited a moment before putting a hand against Shadow’s forehead.

“Hmm, still cold…” Tails mused quietly.

Interested in where things could go from there, Shadow pretended to start to wake from his sleep.

“Uh-oh” Tails whispered before disappearing, he quickly left the room and went back to his own, shutting the door much more quietly this time somehow.

“Hm, and I thought this is where the fun was going to begin.” Shadow said, pulling himself out of his bed.

Getting out of bed took much more power than it normally did, and what's worse is Shadow still felt frozen. He grabbed a thick blanket and wrapped it around him before grabbing another thin blanket and wrapping that under the thicker one. Slowly he shuffled his way through the halls, both “accidentally” and accidentally hitting against Tail’s door.

“Mmphf” Shadow grunted in pain.

Slowly he crept into the living room, which was really just a room with dining chairs and a table clearly never used to the left, a couch and tv to the right, and a kitchen dead ahead. Shadow moved to the windows to his left, the snow covered most of the window, in fact he wasn’t sure he could see anything other than snow. Looking back behind him he noticed a fox peering from around the corner of the hallway.

“It’s rude to spy on people” Shadow tried to say but his voice kept very quiet.

“Sorry!” Tails replied in a hushed tone. “I just… I wanted to make sure you were alright.”

“I’m fi-” Shadow coughed harshly a few times before he could finish his sentence.

Instead of saying anything, Tails grabbed Shadows arm and led him back to the room he’d been staying in before patting his arm and gesturing for him to get back into the bed. Taking the blankets from Shadow, who obliged, he laid them back onto the bed.

“I’ll be back in just a moment, I have an idea.” Tails said before heading off into the kitchen. Suddenly a light filled the house again, but this one more distant and retaining more of it’s white, not to say it was without yellowness. The clinking of metal against ceramic filled the house, the press of a few buttons on a microwave, and then the wait. No beep? Tails must be skilled at this then. The clinking was growing louder and louder until the door opened, Tails carrying two cups of… Something. Setting them down on the bedside table he closed the door and gestured for Shadow to turn on the light on the bedside table, which he did.

“Hot chocolate… Sorry it’s all we have.” Tails said dejectedly.

Shadow took a sip before speaking. “Thank you.” he replied.

Tails looked at Shadow in a little bit of disbelief.

“Can I um, can I sit with you?” Tails asked, namesakes twisting nervously but also tiredly.

Shadow simply nodded, to which Tails pulled a chair from nearby to his bedside and sat down next to the bedside table. The two sat in silence, drinking from their cups. Shadow pushed himself to be sitting upright, using the headrest as the back of his makeshift chair. Shadow set down his cup and brought the sheet of paper to his face, Tails reached out slightly but sheepishly rescinded his hand.

“Hey Shadow, don’t know how much you remember but you fell into a pile of snow and went limp pretty quickly afterwards so we did our best to get you inside and you were freezing so we brought you to our spare room and gave you all the blankets we could sacrifice. Take as much time as you need to better yourself. Your clothing is in the dryer, so you might want to stick around to collect it. We thought of checking up on you but thought you might not want to speak of this ever again. 

\- If so, your secret is safe with us,

Sonic & Tails.” 

Shadow set the sheet of paper back down revealing a now rather sheepish Tails. Shadow looked him over for a moment, reflecting on the letter. It seems as if they just expected him to turn tail and run, which in all honesty was what he’d planned to do anyways. But with this sudden hospitality and the blizzard outside he wasn’t so sure, after all the last place anyone would look for Shadow was his rivals home.

“Do you have a bathroom?” Shadow spoke up, he’d noticed the fox had mostly been avoiding eye contact with him.

“Uh mhm” Tails said quickly before standing up and grabbing two much thicker blankets from the floor and unfolding them.

Shadow waited for a moment so they could be unfolded, accepting them once they had been. Tails tentatively walked to the door and opened it, waiting patiently for Shadow who’d been limping his way to Tails. Silently Tails offered to support Shadow as they moved down the hall closer to Sonic's room, taking a right instead of going straight. Tails flicked on the light as they entered and gently helped Shadow brace against the counter.

“If you need something just… Just let me know, okay? You can do whatever you need to.” Tails said before slinking away to his room.

“Thanks.” Shadow said to the dead air, he didn’t say it often but after all that had been done for him without question the fox deserved it.

Turning his attention to the mirror Shadow noticed first just how tired he was, his eyes looked bloodshot. Then he noticed a few bruises and some dried blood on his face, likely from the Chaos Blast earlier. Smoke too covered him but not as badly as that partner of his. Shadow stopped thinking about his partner and returned to thinking about bettering himself. He looked to the shower and thought for a moment, before hanging the blankets on a hook and locking the door.

_-_-_-_

Shadow had no idea how long he’d been in the bathroom to be exact, even after having finished a while ago steam still covered the room and the air was heavy and thick. Shadow took the blankets from the hook and re-wrapped himself in them before opening the door. A very cool chill hit him instantly. Doing his best, he once again dragged himself to his bed for the night before laying down and throwing the two extra blankets on top of him. Pulling the blankets closer and moving his knees closer to his body to conserve heat he took another moment to think about what he’d do come morning. He couldn’t just up and vanish, well he could but to be honest he didn’t have anywhere to go and his own apartment didn’t feel like exactly the best place to digest what he’d just been through. He supposed he could just rest for the night and then leave tomorrow when Sonic asked him to. It seemed like a good enough plan for now, and with that Shadow closed his eyes and waited. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Considering posting another chapter every time I finish one, however because my sleep schedule is awful the upload times for new chapters may be absolutely horrid if I do that.


	5. A Subversion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Content Notice: Science, Unsolved Mystery, Tails (N/A)  
> Word Count: 2713

The smell of something cooking, well the smell of something burning woke Shadow slowly. His limbs ached and he felt hot and sweaty. His door once again cracked open, odd. Shadow swore that he’d closed it last night. He watched as Sonic and Tails shuffled about in their kitchen moving in and out of his view.

“It’s rude to spy on people.” Shadow chuckled quietly to himself as he watched the pair.

Shadow, not having noticed that he was sat straight up leaned back into his pillow, still mostly upright with the pillow only offering lower back support. After waiting some time the pair in the kitchen moved to the dining table. Figuring he’d have to start the day eventually Shadow pushed himself out of his bed and stretched, he still felt exhausted. He moved to the door and noticed that his shoes had been neatly placed near a dresser, his gloves hung from atop it, atop both of those sat his Chaos Emerald. He pushed the emerald aside and slid his gloves on, it was only then that Shadow noticed his lack of limiters. Putting his shoes on he quickly noticed and took his cloak with him, putting it on as he walked to the… He supposed “den” was the correct word for it.

“Oh hey Shadow, how are you holding up buddy?” Sonic asked, setting down his drink.

Shadow thought for a moment before speaking. “Exhausted.”

Shadow looked at both Tails and Sonic expectantly. Neither of the pair responded in any way.

“Where are my limiters?” Shadow said coldly, he swore if they had somehow lost his limiters.

“They kind of uh…” Tails looked at Sonic hoping Sonic would finish for him, Sonic not picking up on the cue and instead taking another bite of his Chilli Dog.

Tails sighed.

“They shattered.” Tails said finally.

“WHAT!?” Shadow said louder than he’d hoped to, he was shocked, cut him some slack.

Tails sank in his seat and Sonic looked at Shadow, ready to jump to action.

“Well maybe shattered is overstating, come with me I’ll just show you.” Tails said hoping to avoid embarrassment, this explains why he’d been sheepish around him last night.

The trio, wait didn’t Tails just want Shadow to come? Why was the faker tagging along? That didn’t matter right now, what mattered was getting his limiters back. They walked from the den to a door past the kitchen and stepped into a rather spacious garage, the floor was messy and cramped with the amount of things strewn around the place. Tails walked over to a workbench near the door and stood waiting, his tails fluttering furiously enough to lift him gently on accident.

Shadow looked at the limiters, the left one seemed just fine, and so did the right. He moved to pick up the right one but upon turning it over he noticed a massive crack running through the middle of it, Shadow held a finger to the crack and held it to his eye, noting the crack was wide enough for his glove to start slipping through. Setting it down he grabbed his left limiter and put it back on, at least he’d have one.

“How did it break?” Shadow asked calmly, he thought he’d be angrier.

“I’m not sure… But I’ll do my best to fix it!” Tails said, taking the limiter in hand.

“Hmph. You’d better.” Shadow said before walking off back to his own room.

Having only one limiter on his arms almost felt worse than having none. As he continued to walk he heard Tails and Sonic talking quickly before the sound of boxes moving and metal clanking rang through the house. Shadow opened his door and for the first time, realized he too had a window. Opening the curtains and blinds he stared out into.. Into the color white. There was nothing but a pile of snow covering the window. The sound of machinery and sparks glistering found themselves a distant noise in the background, meanwhile a closet very close to Shadow opened, Shadow turned to see Sonic digging through the closet in the same room Shadow was in. He watched for a few moments as Sonic dug through boxes before pulling out what appeared to be a massive cardboard box. Too heavy to lift on his own, Sonic started dragging the box before glancing at Shadow and stopping momentarily, before shaking his head and carrying on. Was this his cue to repay his debt? Fine.

“Oh! Thanks for the help.” Sonic said as if he didn’t expect it.

“Don’t mention it.” Shadow said, when most people said it, they meant that there was no need for thanks, when Shadow said it, he meant if you told anyone he might kill you.

The pair worked flawlessly in bringing the box to the dining room table. Shadow simply walked back to the closet leaving Shadow to wait behind. Sonic was back within an instant and had brought out a thin yet tall box. Shadow had pretty much worked out what was going on by now, wait did this mean he’d have to  _ set-up _ one of their Holiday parties? Oh no.

“Hey Shadow, could you go through the boxes and start sorting and pulling things out? I’m gonna go check on Tails” Sonic said before speeding off.

Shadow sighed before bringing the big cardboard box the two had carried to the dining table down to the floor. After doing so he opened the box and was greeted by a tangle of lights and other decorations. Starting off Shadow pulled out a string of lights, the bulbs on this were blue and yellow and the length felt oddly short, the pair must have made everything custom. Shadow took out another set of lights, these ones white and pink… Are these for Silver and Blaze or Amy? Are they for Rouge? The next string were red white and green, maybe he’d been overthinking the colors meaning then. Shadow decided questioning this all wasn’t worth his time and focused on pulling out the lights, it seemed like all that was in the box was lights. Half of the lights he’d pulled out at this point had no color in them at all. It seemed like they all had come out of the box save for one. Which was trapped under a smaller box at the very bottom of the box. Shadow looked around, noting Sonic had yet to return. He set out to remove the boxes carefully, some labeled “DANGER; GLASS” and others labeled “LESS DANGER; PLASTIC” along with various dates. One final box labeled “PICTURE ALBUM” rested atop the box sitting on the lights. Pulling it out with care he set it in a separate pile, the final box read “UNUSED MATERIALS”. He picked up the rather light box for its size and set it next to the “PICTURE ALBUM” box.

“Aw thanks buddy!” Sonic said stepping into the room. “You should go into the garage, Tails is almost done.” Sonic said, Shadow watched as he eyed the “UNUSED MATERIALS” box, just what was exactly in there?

“Good.” Shadow said standing, he watched as Sonic moved to switch positions with him.

Having left the door open, Shadow stepped in and moved over to a machine Tails had been operating, a glass panel between him and a laser and the goggles adorning his eyes heavily fogged. He watched as the blue laser traced over the cracks of the ring again and again. He found it odd that the laser was pointed directly at the glass instead of some other surface, but he knew Tails had his reasons. After a few more minutes of watching him operate the laser the light suddenly and quickly stopped, a beep let the pair know the machine had finished. Tails lifted his goggles and finally turned his attention to Shadow.

“You might want to let it cool for a few more minutes… It might not only burn you severely but it would also break and the replacement would fall in on itself.” Tails said while wiping sweat from the top of his head.

“I appreciate the gesture.” Shadow replied coldly.

Shadow stood waiting while Tails used his namesakes to carry himself further across the garage to something that was under a cover, gently it hovered above the workbench it had sat on as Tails reached under it and flicked a switch. Moving to where Shadow couldn’t see it clearly, Tails removed the sheet and the sound of a small jet engine gently whirred through the shop. The sound clicked off again as Tails picked up the object and flipped it around. Tails was ducking down to grab something which finally let Shadow see exactly what the object in question was, an Extreme Gear. Shadow’s knowledge on such things was limited, he’d tried it once or twice and found he’d gotten the hang of it quite easily but there was never a practical application for him to put his skills to the test. Suddenly the machine near him beeped again and the glass that was once protecting Tails from being lasered lowered so Shadow could retrieve the limiter ring. He grabbed it carefully and rolled it around his fingers for a moment before putting it on. Shadow probably shouldn’t have been surprised, after all Tails is very good at what he does and knowing what he’s doing, but despite that Shadow did have a little surprise that it retained all of its aspects. At least as far as he could tell right now. Shadow walked over to where Tails was working, Shadow’s shadow casting over him.

“Did it work?” Tails asked curiously.

“Yeah, it did work.” Shadow answered.

“Good! I’m going to go back to working now.” Tails responded.

“What, is that?” Shadow asked, pretending not to know.

“Oh this? It’s my Extreme Gear I’m repairing for the next time I need it.” Tails responded.

“How do they work?” Shadow asked, this time he didn’t actually know.

“Well according to the Kutta-Joukowski theore-” Tails stopped, possibly reflecting on a previous moment in his life. “Basically what happens is air is used as fuel to help make it move at high speeds and float, and many things can be transformed into them. One time we discovered this carpe-” Tails again stopped realizing he was about to go on a tangent.

“Hm, and is that the Faker’s?” Shadow asked nodding to another object under a cover further down the table.

“Uh if you mean Sonic then yeah, that’s his.” Tails replied.

“I’ve always wanted to try racing that blue hedgehog on one of these.” Shadow mused, apparently vocally because Tails had looked up at him.

“I could always teach you how to make one.. If you want me to that is.” Tails responded.

“Mmm. Well I don’t see myself getting out of here any time soon.” Shadow responded before moving around to the other side of the table and sitting at a barstool.

_-_-_-_

“Okay you remember that part that I specifically asked you not to put in yet?” Tails asked.

“Yeah? What of it?” Shadow responded.

“Well unless you want to have a shower of sparks emanating from it before it explodes when you turn it on I need you to take it out.” Tails said in response, now not as shaken as before in tone when talking to Shadow.

“That’s this part.” Shadow said while holding up a similarly looking part but with a hitch in the middle and it’s coating bronze.

“No it is- Wait… Your right, sorry.” Tails said before dipping under the bench to grab something.

“You two seem to be getting awful buddy buddy in here. If I didn’t know any better I’d assume you're looking for replacements buddy.” Sonic said entering, speeding over to Tails and putting a hand on his head.

“I wish you wouldn’t run in here Sonic.” Tails said disapprovingly.

“Well I need your help.. I’m at that point with the lights where you have to do the thing with the wires and I dunno.” Sonic said using his hands to talk.

“Alright, just don’t blow up anything in here either.” Tails said before flying off to the den.

“How come he gets to fly but I can’t run.” Sonic said, still not having noticed Shadow.

Sonic turned around and sat down at the workbench, the two boards, one being yellow, orange, red and white and the other being stark white, however the stark white one was much more angular. Both sat face down with their bottoms open exposing wiring and other confusing technical parts.

“I didn’t know you knew how to ride these Shadow” Sonic stated while moving to uncover his own.

“I don’t.” Shadow said.

“Hmm, well that isn’t exactly a bad idea there Shadow, if I can clear a path to the top of the snow we could race these things you know.” Sonic suggested picking up the board and running a hand along its edges.

“I’ll have to take you up on that offer, Faker.” Shadow said as Tails came back in the room.

“I did the wire thing and the other thing with the remote.” Tails stated before flying back to his seat and sitting down in one fluid motion. “Now where were we?”

“Me telling you I hadn’t put in the wrong part.” Shadow stated bluntly.

“Right right, well I need you to take that small silver gear-” Tails continued, “no  _ that _ small silver gear and add it to this little slot here Tails said tapping a small peg on the board.

“And then?” Shadow asked.

“Okay well now we need to install the thing that actually makes the fuel… go.” Tails said, thinking hard.

“And the catch?” Shadow picked up on the thoughtful silence.

“We don’t have that part.” Tails said finally.

Shadow sighed “I see.”

“Don’t worry I can make it but we have to finish this tomorrow.” Tails said before standing up and opening a large drawer, grabbing out some various sheet metals and what seemed to be a few thin strips of carbon fiber. “You can uh, if you’re sticking around I’m sure Sonic wouldn’t mind the help but you can do whatever you’d like.”

Shadow stood from his seat and walked out of the dimly lit garage, the sun had started to set and the closer to the kitchen Shadow got the more sounds of zipping around Shadow heard. As he opened the door he saw various lights lined through the house and various decorations, the smell of something cooking also was close.

“Oh hey Shadow do you think you could help a bit?” Sonic asked.

“What is it?” Shadow said annoyed, truth be told he didn’t have much else to do.

“I’d appreciate it if you could unbox those boxes earlier and set those ornaments and decorations in some piles, that would make my life easier.” Sonic said exhaustedly.

“Fine.” Shadow said before walking off, ignoring Sonic's “Thank you”.

He looked around and noticed Sonic had attempted to put the “UNUSED MATERIALS” box back in the big one. As soon as Sonic wasn’t looking he took it out and hid it behind the big box. He’d wait on that one, at least until the Faker left the room.

_-_-_-_

Shadow had underestimated how long this would take, He’d only gotten a third of the way through before Tails and Sonic had invited, well rather politely forced, Shadow to eat with them and now the trio had pretty much finished decorating the entire house save for the living room area.

“So Shadow, how long are you going to be sticking around?” Sonic asked.

“I don’t know. Why?” Shadow responded, he knew he had mandatory break time coming up soon but he was hopeful he’d be assigned on a mission during that time anyways.

“Well if you want you could stick arou-” Sonic was cut off by Shadow holding up a hand.

Shadow sighed and thought for a moment, he really didn’t have anywhere else to go and he’d only have to stay for a short amount of time hopefully.

“I’ll go to your stupid party.” Shadow responded finally.

“Alright!” Sonic said.

Shadow sighed once more and stood up, heading for his room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> listen, Tails is a valid warning okay? Also for those worried about the sudden detour, it doesn't last for much longer.


	6. Home Alone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, might have forgotten to post recently, sorry about that! I'm working on #15 currently and things are getting QUITE interesting but for now I think I could use a Holiday Party, no reason in particular it just sounds fun.
> 
> Content Notice: Alcohol, Consumption of Alcohol, Sadness, Sappiness  
> Word Count: 6443 (Sorry for the longer chapter)

Shadow wasn’t exactly the… holiday type. Nor was he the company type. However with all that being said, now that he was finally back alone in his apartment he had to admit he felt something was missing. A week had passed since first arriving at the Faker’s home and he’d left his freshly completed Extreme Gear at their home, he still needed to paint it and it gave him an excuse to avoid people during the party. Shadow hung up the cloak and moved to his kitchen counter top, upon which sat a load of mail and letters. He flicked through most of them quickly as they were never usually important. Some company holiday party a few hours before the Fakers, he probably wouldn’t go. No mission assignments yet but he was still hopeful. Shadow moved to his living room and sat down, turning on a light and opening a book.

_-_-_-_

The door knocked quickly and rapidly, Shadow stood from his couch slowly. Taking care to mark his stopping point he peeked out the eyehole of his apartment before opening the door.

“Good evening Rouge.” Shadow said.

“‘Evening to yourself buddy boy, you mind telling me what exactly happened?” Rouge said putting a small metal clip away, she must have intended to break in because she was also holding some mail in her other hand.

“What’s there to tell, you saw as much as what happened.” Shadow responded, accepting the mail from Rouge.

“What’s there to tell? How about after you put your new partner to sleep for five days and left him with a broken arm among other things you suddenly up and vanish to who knows where before a blizzard hits.” Rouge responded.

“Not much.” Shadow responded, he’d pretty much completely forgotten about his partner at this point. Hopefully they’d see they are a danger to each other and not pair the two, but logic kept nagging at him.

“Well I hope you're coming to that holiday party, they’re making your attendance mandatory.” Rouge commented before turning back to leave.

“What? Why?” Shadow demanded quickly.

“You and that partner of yours have to meet at some point, and wear something nice.” Rouge said, leaving before Shadow could retort.

Shadow closed the door and slapped the mail down on the table, he may as well get this over with. He walked to his room and opened the closet, being the ultimate lifeform does come with standards after all.

_-_-_-_

Shadow looked himself down once in the mirror, black bow-tie, white gloves, dress shirt and suit jacket, red vest, some much fancier shoes and black dress pants. Wearing clothes was… uncomfortable, they had to be tailor made and even then they always tore easily or scratched the wearer raw, some people could live through it but Shadow personally could not stand it. However it was required that everyone dress nicely, and Shadow rather enjoyed his employment and free apartment. He opened the bedroom door and turned off the house lights before leaving completely. He stepped onto the fresh snowfall, it was mid-day, and he’d only have to stay for a little and then he could go to Sonic’s party and then he could finally sleep in his own bed. Shadow followed the conglomerate out of the compound and to a nearby banquet hall. Shadow entered the building finally and was greeted to a mass of tables, a man in an all black 3 piece suit moved his hand and led Shadow to his table, which was thankfully only a 4 person table that was empty. He sat down in the seat with his name card and looked up and around at his surroundings. In front of him was an elevated area with a band playing christmas music. His ears rang with laughter and conversation. Everything here smelt of perfectly cooked meat and very expensive alcohol, but mostly the alcohol. Shadow looked at the center of the table, noticing the bottles of alcohol next to each glass, for example the seat to his left that belonged to Rouge had a very refined and expensive wine, while in front of him was a bottle of very heavy and non-expensive whisky… Did people just assume that he drank to forget? He supposed he’d drink a little, but he had places to be today and he preferred to be professional around colleagues. He looked to the clock ticking by ever slower, before deciding to stand and help himself to some of the food.

_-_-_-_

Thirty minutes had to have passed since he’d gotten up, his meal was pretty much finished with the exception of a few more bites. He considered leaving now but just as he did he saw Rouge in the crowd of people talking and standing. He waited till she looked over and nodded politely, she had no idea who she was talking to but whoever he was, he’d certainly been through hell. Unfortunately the pair started coming closer, to which Shadow instinctively started pouring more of the whisky into his glass, if he showed that he was more interested in drinking then they’d leave him alone. Unfortunately that didn’t happen, the pair sat down.

“Finally you two are in the same room now.” Rouge said, before continuing. “Shadow, meet Ozul. Ozul, this is Shadow.”

“Good day Shadow, nice meeting you.” Ozul said, extending his hand.

“Likewise.” Shadow responded in kind, shaking his hand firmly.

The pair looked at each other before looking at Rouge, it was the same kind of look you have with extended family you don’t know nor do you care to know. At least for Shadow anyways. He took a sip of his drink hoping to relieve the silence.

“So Shadow, you work here for long?” Ozul finally asked, Shadow finally bothered to look at him for more than a moment. He was dressed in a suit himself, all black apart from parts of his tie and vest which had swooshes of green and purple and the cast that hung around his right arm.

“Quite a few years… I can’t recall at this point.” Shadow said.

“That’s fair.” Ozul responded.

“Shadow, you mind telling us what exactly happened a few days ago?” Rouge asked, enjoying the situation she was about to put Shadow in.

“I’m not quite sure what you mean Rouge.” Shadow continued. “How did the testing go? I heard you got some record times.”

“Yeah, that I did… I think.” Ozul said, the look on his eyes a little glassy as if he had to remember if anything even happened that day.

“So then how do you get things done during missions?” Ozul asked after a pause, starting to dig into a plate of food that had arrived for him.

“Efficiently.” Shadow responded to which Ozul laughed. Had he said something funny?

“Sorry sorry, good response I suppose.” Ozul said.

As Ozul ate and Rouge opened her bottle of wine, an older man made his way to the stage as the music died down.

“Could I have everyone’s attention?” A voice rang out through the speakers.

Shadow knew a long speech was coming and he prepared to tune it out… For once he wished to be in Sonic’s company, at least he’d be doing something there.

_-_-_-_

Soon after the speech Shadow found himself in the middle of a card game, winning it. Ozul approached the table, but now had glasses on.

“Mind if I join in gentlemen?” Ozul asked before seating himself.

The table nodded as the group was dealt cards. As of now the only people in contention were Shadow, some old commanding officer that Shadow tolerated more than the others, and now Ozul.

Hmm, his double ace was good, but not great. He traded in 3 other cards, he watched as the commanding officer folded and stood from the table, now out of money. Ozul, who’d looked nervous the entire time and had traded in 4 of his cards checked, leaving Shadow with the opportunity to do as he pleased. He could have checked, but he preferred to play bold. He put in the exact amount of money that Ozul had to go all in and watched him. A smirk peaked on Ozul’s face as he pushed his chips in. What did he know that Shadow didn’t?

“Okay lets see the hands.” The croupier said. (yes, apparently that’s the name for a card dealer.)

Shadow laid down his hand, now triple aces. Hard to beat really, he moved closer to the table and almost out stretched a hand when-

“Royal Flush, sorry kid.” Ozul said, taking the money from the pile and moving it closer to himself.

“Well done.” Shadow said, collecting the rest of his winnings into his suit pockets and standing.

“What, no second round?” Ozul asked, seemingly miffed.

“There will be a second round when you remove that card feeder from under your cast.” Shadow said quietly, leaning into Ozul and harshly patting his right arm.

Shadow smirked before walking off to the door, money in his pockets and his half full bottle of whisky along with another bottle he’d been given in his left hand. He nodded to a few people before leaving, looking left then right before pulling out his Chaos Emerald.

“Chaos Control!” Shadow said, his surroundings changed from busy urban city to forest covered in light snow. He was standing on the runway he’d fallen on earlier that week, from the outside he could see people laughing and a much more relaxed environment. He could also see the lights were on in the garage, which seemed like a much more fitting entrance. He walked down to the door next to the massive hanger door, knocking with his free hand. Tails opened the door, Silver and Blaze standing in the garage together standing near where Shadow had been making his own Extreme Gear.

“Oh hey Shadow!” Tails responded, politely ignoring the whisky in Shadows hands or the fact that he probably smelt an awful lot like alcohol. “You didn’t have to get all dressed up for this though.” Tails continued.

“Work mandated party, I had no choice.” Shadow responded, drawing a little attention to his suit and the bottles as he did so.

“Ah! Well come on in! Silver brought an Extreme Gear too if you want to finish the paint on yours, we could have the four of you race them!” Tails said excitedly.

“Four?” Shadow asked.

“Uh yeah! Jet’s here too.” Tails said having picked up Shadows board and moved to a table coated with a mix of paint colors.

“Figures.” Shadow said, taking the spray can Tails handed him.

“Special paint, it’ll stay on trust me. We can worry about detailing another time, let's just get something simple done.” Tails said starting to tape off sections “You might want to hang up your suit jacket though, you’re wonderfully over dressed for this stuff.” Tails added.

“Right, I’ll be back.” Shadow said moving to the coat hanger by the garage door and putting the alcohol on a table nearby, hanging up his suit jacket and pushing back his sleeves, he was getting used to the suit and didn’t want to have to carry it on his shoulders.

As Tails and Shadow painted, Silver and Blaze quietly bickered like a married couple over if it was safe or not to race the Extreme Gear Silver had been loaned, further beyond the sound of a rousing party played out. Shadow painted most of the outside of the board in black and gave some red and gold detailing to the rest of the board, then Tails promptly used a nozzle of some sort to give the black on the edge a striped look that tied the look together.

“We make a great team, fox.” Shadow stated, looking back on their work.

“Heheh, I guess so. Now let's get to the real party because it’ll need time to dry.” Tails suggested, flying off.

Shadow watched as Silver and Blaze followed, he grabbed his suit jacket and put it back on and as soon as Tails wasn’t watching he took a quick drink from the bottle he’d previously opened, he’d need it to survive this. Thinking it over more, he decided to hide the smaller bottle he’d been gifted in his left coat pocket. Finally stepping into the party he noticed the place that had been once empty had been transformed, with guests absolutely everywhere.

“Shadow!” Sonic boomed, launching into a hug.

“Sonic.” Shadow responded coldly, surprisingly giving in and very lightly hugging back.

“Where’ve you been buddy?” Sonic asked, putting an arm around Shadow’s neck and leading him around the party to the chairs where the living room once was. Had he not known of it being a living room he’d have assumed Sonic had a large section of his house dedicated to chairs and another section dedicated to an extremely large dining table. Around the TV sat Amy, Knuckles, Jet, and now Silver and Blaze. Two empty chairs were left and Shadow took to sitting next to Blaze and the wall, because he knew she’d shut Silver up for him. As they walked in he was greeted by the various people sitting there. As time passed and conversation continued Shadow noticed that compared to earlier, he felt extremely relaxed. Even if he was still the only one wearing a suit. Sure others were wearing special things for the season but Shadow as far as he could tell was the only one in one.

“So Shadow, what’s up with the suit? Are you trying to impress someone?” Amy Rose teased from across from him, she somehow managed to weasel her way right next to Sonic on the only remnant of the couch left.

“Not entirely. Work related.” Shadow responded, before watching Cream quietly sneaking her way over behind them with a small leaf in her hand on a string, she handed it to the Chao following her and Shadow finally realized what was happening.

“Hey Sonic, you should make sure that Tails is okay, I haven’t seen him in awhile.” Shadow spoke up, nodding at Sonic.

“Ah yeah, I’ll go do that!” Sonic said zipping up.

“You're so mean Shadow!” Amy responded.

“I know.” Shadow responded, Knuckles and Silver laughed but Blaze lightly tapped Silver and he quickly stopped. However the small smirk the two shared did not go unnoticed.

“He walked away Amy!” Cream said to Amy in an almost quiet voice.

“I know!” Amy responded, to which again received a short laugh from everyone.

“If you’ll all excuse me” Shadow said standing up, he moved to the bathroom in the hall and knocked on the door before entering.

He looked at himself in the mirror for a moment before taking out his bottle of whisky and taking another small drink from it, things weren’t that bad tonight, he was actually enjoying himself. Taking another long look and quick sip he quickly put the cork back on the bottle and slipped it in his pocket. He left the bathroom to find Jet standing outside of it, the two exchanged a short glance before passing each other. He’d never had the best relationship with Jet, but the same could be said for nearly anyone here anyways. Still, he couldn’t remember a time he’d ever been with Jet for more than a few moments. As he looked around the room he saw the group of hedgehogs moving closely to the fireplace, Wave, Storm and Vector chatting it up near the entrance while the other members of Chaotix talked at the table.

“C’mere Shadow!” Said an excited Cream. Shadow wanted to refuse, but he had a soft spot for kids and gave in.

Cream led him to sit with Amy, Silver, and Sonic. The quartet standing in front of a camera operated by Knuckles and Blaze, with Tails stepping in every few moments to help with the camera that the pair somehow managed to keep turning off. Eventually Sonic, Silver, and Shadow were arm in arm with Amy in front of them. All sitting behind Sonic’s fake fireplace. Not to mention the ridiculous red hats Cream had made them all wear, why did they have a white ball at the end?

“Smile!” Said Knuckles jokingly before clicking the camera button that would finally take the picture.

The camera flashed brightly and soon after a sheet of white started to print from the front of the camera. Tails quickly walked over and snatched it before anyone could take it, saying he needed to develop it and get a digital version.

“Can we take off the hats now?” Shadow asked.

“Are you sure you want to end the fun here Shadow?” Silver asked.

“I vote we keep them on!” Amy said.

“All in favor of keeping them on, say I.” Sonic stated aloud.

“I” Rang from Sonic, Silver, Amy, Blaze, Knuckles, and a recently returning Jet.

“These things are ridiculous.” Shadow said, resigning himself to defeat.

“You know you love it.” Silver prodded.

“No, I really don’t love it.” Shadow responded.

“Say then, how about that race before the sun goes down?” Sonic suggested to the group.

The trio nodded and they headed to the garage, with Sonic informing the others that they were about to go for their race. Shadow turned on the lights as Jet picked up the board leaning right next to the door and turned around to follow the group outside, Silver was still trying to convince Blaze as Shadow picked up his board. He set his coat on the rack once again and walked out with Blaze finally giving into Silvers wish, but not without holding him behind just a little bit longer for Shadow to walk out of earshot. Shadow walked outside and to the backyard of Sonic’s home, which was coated by a forest, Tails had laid out a map and apparently a track for the quartet’s race which would end them back here after two laps around.

“This is going to be fun, I’ll be back here before all of you in no time!” Jet said, exuding confidence.

“Ha, we’ll see about that. I’m the fastest thing alive!” Sonic retorted.

“Don’t be so sure of yourself Faker, last time we raced I beat you!” Shadow reminded him.

“And last time we raced on foot I beat the both of you!” Silver added in, directing his comment to Shadow and Sonic.

“Yeah, but you’ve never raced me Silver!” Jet exclaimed.

“I’ve never even raced an Extreme Gear...” Silver mumbled.

“Is everyone ready?” Tails asked, receiving a response from everyone he continued. “When the countdown ends, go for it!” Tails said pressing a small button on a nearby computer.

“Three”

“Two”

“ONE”

A short buzz sounded as Jet and Sonic blasted off in a flash, with Shadow following close behind and Silver leaving a small gap between himself and the others. The group twisted and turned through trees and used some fallen logs as makeshift grinding rails, snow piles served as ramps in the few sections they could be provided. As of now the race was carrying a lot of downhill momentum but from what the map had shown they’d have to make their way back uphill again soon after a really fast turn. Shadow moved in between Sonic and Jet, who had been side by side with Jet pulling away slightly. Jet made an evasive maneuver and jumped over the trio landing beside Sonic and leaving Shadow on the outside. They now had to slalom through trees once again kept in a tight pack. Silver had finally managed to catch up and was seemingly just trying to stick behind Shadow through the tight spots.

“This is blindingly quick you guys!” Silver shouted over the wind whipping against them.

“You haven’t seen anything yet!” Jet said, starting to pull away.

“I’ll be seeing you at the finish line Jet!” Sonic said, pushing his Extreme Gear to go faster than what was even possibly considered safe.

Silver, sensing the opportunity to break away tried to move behind Sonic instead of Shadow, but his board was slow to turn.

“Silver watch out!” Shadow barked.

“It’s no use!” Silver stated, clipping Shadow’s Extreme Gear before managing back on his way to follow Sonic.

Finally the path opened up to a slowly sweeping right downhill section, Silver and Sonic had now passed the others and had disappeared from Shadow’s vision, he and Jet went around a very wide and long left hand turn that now had them facing uphill with a lot of speed. Jet finally passed Shadow after going wide around him and then shot past him at incredible speeds. Shadow pushed his Extreme Gear as hard as he could but he noticed it was starting to lose power as he climbed the hill. The other riders were fading from his view.

“If only I had my old Extreme Gear.” Shadow muttered the Extreme Gear he was currently riding slowing to a stop. Shadow hopped off and watched as the riders completely disappeared, he had an idea.

“Chaos Control!” Shadow said, appearing in his apartment again.

Quickly he rushed to his closet and undid his dress shoes, putting on the Skates from his old Extreme Gear and taking out his Chaos Emerald again.

“Chaos Control!” Shadow said, reappearing.

Now Shadow was back in the game, he picked up his Extreme Gear and skated up the hill, he felt much lighter and faster than he did on his board. He’d catch up in no time. Shadow raced like he never had before and made it up the hill by the time the others had just started to descend, he tossed the Extreme Gear board to an unexpecting Tails and raced back down the mountain. With the Moon and it’s light now engulfing the entire track it was hard to tell anything, so Shadow focused on the trails of the other riders. He watched as what he thought was Jet passed Sonic only for the both of them to be passed by Silver. He continued to push the limits of what was safe until he was on the heels of Jet, passing through the section where his board had started to fail earlier he now passed Jet on the outside and shot up the hill side by side with Sonic, he attempted to pass but his attempts continued to be blocked by Sonic until the pair had caught with Silver. Silver then moved a little too much letting Shadow and a now back up to speed Jet race their way past. Silver caught up first and then Sonic, Silver went to the inside of Shadow who was already being pressed by Jet on his outside and now Sonic on Jet’s outside. The four had come up the hill almost completely side by side. Silver shot through first and then Jet, who’d accidentally hit into Shadow causing him to fall off balance and into the snow. By the time Shadow had gotten back up he was covered in Snow and a few twigs and pine cones that had got caught. He watched through the trees as Silver crossed the line in front of Jet, and Sonic slowed as he crossed the line. The trio celebrated together as Shadow slowly walked around the turn and to the finish line deliberately putting one foot down and turning back to the house. He opened the door as only just then a few people had noticed him. Quickly he walked through the kitchen and to the garage where he started removing pine cones and sat upon the table his half empty bottle of whisky sat. He took out the cork and took a long drink as he sat in the relative darkness. The silence nagged at him.

“Why in the hell am I at this stupid party?” Shadow asked to the darkness, looking into the bottle's reflection.

There was certainly still a lot of whisky left, more than enough to last quite a few glasses. Or enough to get him drunk enough to forget this dumb day. He’d been cheated out of money he’d won leaving him just below what he’d brought to the table, he’d had to sit through an awful speech, he had to dress up all fancy in this uncomfortable suit, the board he’d been working on for ages barely even worked and now he’d been pushed into the dirt… er, snow rather. Having taken out all the pine cones he knew of Shadow reached to take out his Chaos Emerald turning it over in his empty hand and holding the alcohol tightly in the other.

“You okay in there?” A distant voice called.

Shadow stayed silent. He took another drink from the bottle, it hadn’t worked earlier but perhaps now it would.

The lights turned on all too quickly and Tails entered, for some reason Amy was behind him. Shadow continued to pay no mind to the intruders. He listened as the clattering of metal against wood played out in the distance. He took another drink and started to feel awful, which meant it was working.

“Sorry about your board Shadow… I can fix it though.” Tails offered, Shadow still refused to look up.

Shadow heard a quiet whisper and watched as feet shuffled from his vision and back to the party. He waited as Amy sighed and sat next to him on the table.

“What’s wrong, Shadow?” Amy asked, her tone low.

“Nothing.” Shadow responded.

“I don’t know if I believe that.” Amy said.

“Why’s that?” Shadow asked coldly.

“Well, coming to the finish late, being ignored by almost everyone else and storming to the garage holding a Chaos Emerald and that bottle, I’d say you were thinking about either going home early or drinking your way out of this party.” Amy deduced.

“I see.” Shadow sighed, putting the Chaos Emerald away but holding the bottle in his hands.

“If it makes you feel any better, Jet wanted to come over and apologize.” Amy said grabbing Shadow’s suit jacket and putting it around Shadow.

“And why didn’t he?” Shadow asked.

“Tails didn’t want you destroying his garage and hurting him.” Amy said bluntly to which Shadow let out a small sound that sounded like an attempt at a sigh and a laugh.

“Now, do you want to head back to the party?” Amy asked.

  
  


“I guess.” Shadow stated sadly.

Amy opened the door and turned off the lights as Shadow now openly carried the bigger of the two whisky bottles with him into the house and walked to the dining table. Jet and Silver sat talking at the farther end and as Jet went to open his mouth Shadow put up his free hand.

“Your fine.” Shadow said, putting down the bottle in front of him and sitting down. Shadow watched as more people arrived to sit at the table and conversate with each other. His seat sat him between Knuckles and Amy, who’d sat at the edge to be near the head of the table where Sonic had sat himself. As time went on food came and went from the table to plates to stomachs. Eventually the only ones who still sat at the table were Shadow, Silver, Blaze, and Sonic. Shadow had barely touched the food on his plate and had drunk more of the whisky from the table then the water he’d poured himself earlier. He looked down the table to see Silver and Blaze talking among themselves before moving to be with everyone else. He then turned his attention to Sonic who’d been finished for quite awhile, Shadow didn’t understand why he’d stuck around. They made eye contact momentarily.

“Why’ve you stuck around?” Shadow asked quietly, taking a drink of his water.

“I want to make sure you’re doing alright buddy.” Sonic stated.

“Surely you’d rather be with the rest of them, wouldn’t you?” Shadow retorted.

“I’m happy just where I am right now.” Sonic replied.

Shadow quietly pushed away his plate and grabbed his bottle, standing up and heading for the former living room behind them, surprisingly the couch had been left open to which Shadow sat down on. Sonic sat down beside him as more conversation ensued. It was only then that Shadow had noticed the tree that had been put up with a bunch of boxed gifts under it. Maria had talked about this kind of thing before with Shadow back on the ARK, and how the two of them would do their best to try and give each other gifts each year, those were good times. Very good times. Sonic stood and said something and the gifts started being spread around from under the tree, Shadow wasn’t really paying attention to that. Now he was looking at the lights, he noticed how there was a small pattern visible that represented everyone at the party in some way and that, near the star of the tree was his own. A final black bulb signifying as such. He looked more closely at the ornaments upon it and noticed that most seemed to be basic and normal, but every so often there would be one that seemed almost custom to a memory made or something else. Finally he looked to the star, or rather in fact a figure. Perhaps the intense lighting and drinking had made his vision blurry but he looked at it very intently. It had a two-tone blue dress, with a lighter blue dominant and a powder blue around the chest and arms, white outlining and a white stripe up the middle. He followed the arms that held up a floating star, the arms also had the light blue color as sleeves and the hair was a long and flowing blonde color, a powder blue headband and most importantly the eyes piercing blue. That figure looked… Why? A few moments passed before Shadow took a long drink and rubbed his eyes, looking back at the figure. It remained unchanged.

“I’ll be back.” Shadow said very quickly in a higher voice.

Shadow stood from his seat and walked to the bathroom, knocking once before opening the door. He flipped on the light and looked into the mirror, setting his bottle down rather violently. The reflection of his eyes watered but Shadow tried his best to deny this reality. What had even sent him over the edge like this? Well he knew what exactly, but why had it? Was he sad, angry, or happy? Even he couldn’t tell. He stretched back slightly and saw someone was headed for the bathroom so he closed the door quickly, locking it. He sat down on the edge of the bathtub and looked down, gently he cried a little. He just wished he knew _why_ he was crying. A small knock sounded upon the door but no response was given from either side. Shadow thought back on everything that had transpired, what was it that made him so emotional about that figure? He moved his hand to his eyes and wiped away a tear, he thought he understood now. He’d always wished to spend a time like this with Maria, having fun together enjoying the season and exploring new things about the earth. He thought over his options, he could either leave now and appear in his apartment in a flash, or keep his dignity and head back out there. He took the cork off the bottle and took one final, very long drink and tossed it in the small garbage can. He stood slowly and opened the door, seeing a lack of anyone nearby. Slowly he almost stumbled down the hall, catching himself, he stood more upright and adjusted his bowtie before walking in calmly and confidently, sitting down on the couch. He did his best to avoid eye contact with anyone and watched as gifts were passed around, nothing had come to him which was fair because he hadn’t known he needed to bring anything. He shut his eyes momentarily and just listened. He heard as tightly packed paper slid across the floor and small talk carried through the room. Suddenly an arm reached out to catch him, to which he’d just realized he was slumping forward onto his knees.

“I got you buddy!” Sonic said cheerfully.

Shadow slowly opened his eyes and looked at Sonic, nodding very slightly in thanks.

Sonic tapped Shadows hand, trying to get his attention.

“Let’s get you some fresh air.” Sonic said practically pulling up Shadow and leading him outside. 

The pair walked for what seemed like ages, they walked down the track and cut through a small section of the woods, where they found a small campfire and a large tent. The camp itself faced a rocky ledge that had a clear view of the moon through the tree’s, it was unspeakably beautiful how the black and purple light emanated from the sky and to the forest below. Shadow stood in momentary awe of the sight, breathing deeply. Behind him Sonic had started a fire and shuck the two folding chairs on the ground to rid them of their snow before sitting down.

“Pretty isn’t it?” Sonic asked.

“Yeah…” Shadow replied after some time. He made his way to the chair that had been set out for him, not taking his eyes off the sight.

“I… I want to apologize.” Sonic stated after a very long pause. Seeing Shadow was pretty out of it he continued without much response from him. “I feel like I’ve been a pretty crappy host for you, Shadow.”

“How?” Shadow asked weakly.

“When we took you in I, well I almost always had you doing busy work it seemed like and then forced you to come to a party where you’ve seemed to have nothing but a rough time and for that… I apologize.” Sonic said remorsefully.

“I didn’t take you for the apology type.” Shadow said, not sure how to follow his apology.

The two sat in silence for a moment, the fire crackling nearby.

“I suppose I should apologize as well, I’ve not exactly been the kindest guest.” Shadow admitted, somewhere in his mind he tried to rationalize that the only reason he was doing this was the alcohol.

Sonic sat up a little more before speaking. “I don’t think so.”

“I have, I send you out on some dumb task and then get so infuriated I break my limiters during a Chaos Blast, then pass out from the coldness in front of your house and hide out longer than I had to just to avoid the consequences. Then showing up at your party already unhappy, being a jerk about losing the race and now… Now drinking myself to misery because that angel on that tree of yours looked a little too similar to someone I loved.” Shadow let out, he dug into his pocket for the smaller bottle and opened it, he gestured at Sonic who of course refused. Shadow took a small drink. Sonic stayed silent for some time, he knew who Shadow meant.

“She was like a sister to me, and something like this was our dream.” Shadow said, the wind starting to howl loudly and the once non existent snowfall now pouring heavily.

The two sat for another few minutes until the fire started to die out from the winds and snowfall. Sonic put it out before picking up the chairs and handing them to Shadow, telling him to go get Blaze and Silver. He walked back to the house with the chairs in hand, he opened the backdoor and headed to the garage, setting the chairs down and now bringing Silver and Blaze with him. The four of them managed to get the tent and everything inside it to the house as the snow continued to hit harshly. A few of the guests with long ways to travel such as the Babylon Rogues or the Chaotix made their way to leave. Now only Shadow, Sonic, Tails, Amy, Silver, and Blaze were in the house. Tails had wrapped himself in a blanket and fallen asleep near the fireplace as Amy helped put things away. After a rather quiet hour the house was back to normal. Tails had been carried off to his room and now the 5 of them sat in the living room.

“So, where are we staying now?” Silver asked Blaze.

“I’m not sure.” Blaze responded.

Shadow thought for a moment, he had the room but did he really want to do this? He supposed he could so long as it was just a night.

“I.. Have the room if you're inclined.” Shadow finally said.

“Are you sure? We wouldn’t want to intrude.” Silver asked.

“I’m sure.” Shadow continued. “Just let me know when you're ready to go.”

“Well it is getting quite late.” Blaze stated, suppressing a yawn.

“Alright then, let’s go.” Shadow said, taking out his Chaos Emerald.

A portal opened in front of them, Shadow jumped in and arrived in his apartment. Blaze and Silver following soon after. Shadow pointed through the kitchen to a door and then a door that was on the other side of the counters. Shadow had been granted a much larger and nicer place due to his work, but it didn’t matter to him.

“To the left is a bedroom, to the right is a small library that has an area with pillows and blankets, it’s more comfortable than you’d think. Bathroom is the door across from the front door and my room is the door that’s next to the couch.” Shadow said.

The pair excused themselves to separate rooms and Shadow walked over to the window, looking out to the city blanketed in snow. He thought for a moment before walking to his kitchen and taking out the bottle of whisky in his suit jacket, he put it with the rest of his alcohol under the counter top. He slowly took off his suit jacket and his Extreme Gear boots, then put away his dress shoes. He undid his bowtie and vest and removed everything after that too. Slowly he walked past his large bay window, where he kept a few pictures of him and Maria that had somehow been taken. He picked one up, him and Maria sat together looking towards the world. There was very little color to the picture, but just enough to make out everything perfectly in Shadow’s mind. He set down the photograph and walked to his bed, getting into it and finally falling asleep.

“So much for home alone.” he mumbled.


	7. The Fool

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Notice: N/A  
> Word Count: 1220

Shadow slowly woke to a dark sky shimmering moonlight through the window. He rolled out of bed and walked to his closet, putting on his usual rocket shoes. He was torn, part of him was excited he’d finally get to go out on an assignment again. The other part of him knew he’d have to watch over some kid who’d never been on assignment and who’s only experience together was him being cheated out of money. He opened the door out of his apartment and descended the stairs. He walked to the large building where in a few hours many suited figures would enter. The compound itself was dead quiet, which was to be expected at 1 AM. He opened the door and got into the elevator, the suits hated it when he used Chaos Control to get to meetings and for once he wasn’t in a hurry to get into a mission. The elevator continued to descend until finally stopping. The doors opened and he stepped into the cold concrete corridors that served as a home for the research and development department and the briefing rooms when no one needed impressing. He walked through the hangar that was almost devoid of others, a few scientists and security guards made sure it wasn’t completely empty. Shadow opened the door to the empty meeting room and turned on the lights. He sat himself at the end of the table furthest from the door. He double checked that he had everything and finally relaxed for a moment. What exactly did he know about that guy he was working with? He’d forgotten his name, but he also really didn’t care. He knew that he was the cause of his partner's broken arm and other injuries that had kept him from assignment until March. He remembered him being stealthy in his approach, in other words he worked best alone. But the thing that stuck with him the most, was that not an hour after meeting Shadow, he had tried to cheat him out of money. Sure, Shadow had no use for the money, but that doesn’t make it any better. 

_-_-_-_

The gentle hum of the lighting was starting to drive Shadow insane, apparently his partner didn’t need to come to this briefing. Instead, he had to relay everything from this brief back to his partner to “put a bond of trust in motion”. Yeah right, he’d sooner trust Robotnik again then that fool. The last slides of the presentation clicked by so slowly, so, so, so slowly. 

“That’ll be all, a helicopter is waiting for you outside at landing pad T. Your partner is already there. Good luck, Shadow.” The Commanding Officer finished.

“I don’t need it.” Shadow responded, in a flash he was outside the building and on the trail that led to landing pad T.

The sound of a helicopter starting it’s engine became louder and closer with every step he took. Carefully Shadow ascended the steps and passed the window, opening the side of the Helicopter and taking a seat, diagonally sat that fool he was partnered with. Thankfully he made no attempt at conversation as Shadow closed the door. The helicopter slowly rose before making a u-turn and speeding off into the night sky.

_-_-_-_

Shadow looked out the window to the rain that was coming down in sheets. He and the fool still hadn’t spoken about anything. They had been flying for a very long time, at least long enough for the night sky to start to become more grey than black. The helicopter started it’s descent, and Shadow’s vision that was once filled with rain now filled with trees and grass. He opened his door and held onto a bar, looking down to the ground that rapidly approached. Eventually they were hovering just above it. Shadow dropped down and the fool followed soon after. He looked around, a patrol of robots wasn’t far off. Shadow lowered himself and stalked the patrol through the grass, the fool followed close behind. They continued for some time, long enough for the robots to have turned back around to start their path back to the LZ. Shadow simply snuck around them and shot down the path at incredible speeds. Shadow had thought that now, his partner would be lost in the dust. However when he looked back, he could see the fool starting to catch up. So Shadow went faster, as if he were racing the Faker. Once again he looked back to see the fool keeping a very large distance, but he was just ever so slower. Shadow smirked, he had him beat. Or so he thought, soon the fool was jumping incredible distances and starting to catch up. Shadow made an evasive move and hid in the tall grass, watching as his partner blew past him. Finally, some peace and quiet. Shadow waited another few minutes before ascending and speeding up the large hill behind him. Out of the corner of his eye a shadow followed him, though Shadow hardly noticed it. From his vantage point, all he could see was trees in every direction. It didn’t help that the hilltop was covered in trees. A rustling from trees above distracted him, watching as a dark figure dropped down from the trees and scrambled to its feet quickly.

“So, you gonna tell me the mission or are we just gonna run around?” he asked.

“Fine.” Shadow responded.

“We’re looking for a Robotnik base that’s been setup, the problem is we don’t know where and the forest is vast. I don’t know how long we’ll be here and everything has to be done quietly, if anyone finds us we’re done.” Shadow stated.

“Anything else I should know?” The fool asked again, why did he ask so many questions?

“On Sight Procurement, but that’s obvious.” Shadow added, thinking for a moment.

“I’ll be on the lookout for it.” That fool said dutifully before bounding the tallest tree on the hill quickly.

“Robotnik Robotnik… What kind of name even is that? Psh, man was born to do some evil stuff with robots with a name like that.” The fool commented from atop his tree.

“Didn’t I say we need to be quiet?” Shadow asked in a condescending tone.

“Right right, sorry ma- Oh hey I found it! Well I mean I found some smoke but that’s gotta be him right?” That fool asked, too many questions. 

“We’ll see.” Shadow said before speeding off, now he knew the fool could keep pace he’d be able to go as fast as he liked.

_-_-_-_

The pair reached an elevated area overlooking a section of jungle, upon which sat an empty area of flat grass. The pair waited there for a few moments, watching to see if anything changed.

“We take a wrong turn?” That fool asked, Shadow swore if he asked another question.

“No, wait for it.” Shadow said.

_-_-_-_

The fool kicked a rock as Shadow continued to watch, the rain poured harshly on them. Shadow looked back and noticed they’d been sitting at a large cave entrance, a perfect place to look out.

“Go check out the cave. We’re staking out here.” Shadow said, to which the fool complied.

He knew something was up, the place was too normal to be normal. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've finally gotten around to finishing up some important details within the story and universe, expect another double-post soon™.


	8. Failure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Notice: Consequences, Possible Gaslighting  
> Word Count: 1731

The rain had long since stopped and nightfall had descended. Shadow hadn’t seen the fool since he’d ordered him to check the cave out. He was worried but not for the fool, Shadow was worried the mission had been compromised and that’s why he’d not seen much activity. Of course Shadow had spotted the patrols of robots through the woods that did their best to hide, he saw the obvious tire treads in the grass that suddenly disappeared as the forest flattened out. Shadow looked to the pale moon before standing from the cliff's edge. Turning around he carefully walked into the cave, luckily his “genetic donors” so-to-speak had many powers some considered to be unnatural. One such thing was a precise vision in the dark. He skated along the paths with caution, following the narrow paths straight on. His jet boots the only lighting and noise, the latter of which reverberated through the cave softly. Eventually Shadow came to a tight gap in the rocks that led to a path with a large pit that would be otherwise untraversable to anyone who was not themselves a skilled tightrope walker, or good at clinging on to rock for their lives.

“I should just turn back.” Shadow mused quietly.

Shadow quietly turned around, he noticed that unlike earlier a clacking of metal was present with him inside the cave. It seemed to be coming from his right and below. Shadow crouched lower before walking down the path, the sounds becoming louder and louder. He stalked his way down the paths of the cavern until he came to a solid rock wall at the end of a long rock spiral path leading him downwards. The rock wall itself was uninteresting, but perhaps that’s what made it the most interesting thing. Completely flat and almost even, with the sounds seemingly dampened behind it. Shadow looked around for a sign of entry, to his side lay a discarded pickaxe that leaned against the wall. Shadow moved to pick it up but noticed that upon grasping it, the pickaxe was bolted to the ground on a hinge. Clever, but not clever enough. Shadow thrust the pickaxe towards him as the wall he grew suspicious of started it’s ascent, now a metal door and concrete taking its place. Shadow took out his Chaos Emerald smirking, there was a window meaning Shadow would have a pretty easy time getting in there.

“Chaos Control!” Shadow said before appearing in a white and barren hallway.

He looked around for any form of camera but noticed a lack of any surveillance, that was odd. Shadow disregarded it as there were several possible reasons as to why that was, but he didn’t forget it entirely. Slowly he paced to the opening leading to a hallway, a jet engine rumbled down it with haste. Shadow braced against the wall as the robot passed, he moved around it and continued operating like this for some time. Eventually he found himself face to face with a choice. One sign labeled itself as “Computer Room” which could also easily lead him to a way to shut everything down in this facility, but the other sign intrigued him. “Prison Hold”. Shadow thought for a moment before dashing down the hall to the Computer Room. The door was unlocked and the room was void of any other lifeforms, AI or otherwise. A large bay window overlooked a garage, looking out of it revealed that the roof had hinges. Shadow had been right after all. Shadow moved to the main computer.

“Let’s see how well you protect your plans Doctor…” Shadow said, he navigated through the computer with caution as to not alert any security system. Unfortunately Shadow’s plans would end early as before getting any information on his plans, the screen asked for a password. Shadow backed out, sighing. He supposed he could check out the Prison Hold, perhaps someone there would have answers. As Shadow raced to the door it shut in front of him, a gas releasing from the ceiling and the window’s metal shutters closed themselves.

Shadow waited patiently, the gas likely wouldn’t affect him too badly. From what he could remember and what he’d read, the scientists aboard the ARK loved to test his capabilities in all sorts of ways. Shadow couldn’t quite tell if the gas was supposed to kill him or just knock him out, but he supposed it was sedative because if Robotnik had a chance to see Sonic personally fall at his hand, he’d do everything in his power to take it. Though, it hasn’t worked then and it probably never will. Shadow sat calmly on the folding chair facing the door at the back of the room. He propped his leg on his knee and waited, listening for the rush of jet engines and metal clanking. The door opened as several guard robots entered to see an awake and rather displeased Shadow simply watching them enter, he made no effort to move as the robots circled him and closed in. They’d formed an almost inescapable circle, except for the hole at the top. Shadow leaped over the robots and spin dashed through quite a few of them, leaving only two. Shadow ran through one and kicked the other in the back of the head. Waiting for them to get up he waited for them to line up before rolling straight through them. He picked himself up slowly, rolling through metal and steel hurt normally but it was efficient in this scenario. Shadow watched as more robots poured through the halls. He’d failed to make sure no one noticed him, but he could at least fulfill the other part of his mission, removing the base. Shadow leaped over the first group of robots who piled against each other at the door frame, in front of him in this condensed hall had to be at least 30-40 robots all trying to push their way forwards, and perhaps a good 11 behind him stuck in the door frame?

“Chaos Spear!” Shadow shouted as lightning bolts soon appeared near him, and then just as quickly crashed through the hall in front of him, a mess of explosions and shrapnel rang through the hallway. Behind him the robots had done their best to get unstuck, though it seemed a pair were permanently stuck until disassembled. Shadow simply shot another spear towards the robots, and suddenly there was no door blockage if you ignore the parts of robots strewn across the place. Shadow, likely running more on adrenaline more than anything at this point, skated quickly down the hall, following the signs to the prison hall. He blasted through the entry point, the two guards toppling over as he did so. Looking around he saw multiple cells, most empty and cold, but a few contained what seemed to be locals. But of course, there’s always the exception. Shadow shot up the staircase and did a 180, Shadow then used Chaos Control to get into a cell.

“You shouldn’t run off like that.” Shadow said in a condescending voice.

“I’m doing quite well for myself, thank you.” the fool responded.

“Oh, so is being in a jail cell part of your plan?” Shadow asked.

“Not quite.” the fool retorted.

“I should let you rot in here, there’d be no consequence.” Shadow said calmly.

“ ‘Should’ makes it sound as if you don’t have the intent to do it, so why aren’t you?” the fool asked.

“Never assume anything about me, fool.” Shadow said, and with a flash he was gone.

_-_-_-_

“... I didn’t expect him to be a pain when it came to joking, jeesh.” Ozul said, looking up at his ceiling once more.

He quickly lept to it, taking off the vent cover and climbing into the vent system.

“I hate these things.” Ozul remarked, referring to the tight space of the vent.

He crawled slowly so as to not create any noise, he made his way to the control room, most people probably escaping this jail wouldn’t have any reason to break into the control room. Ozul wasn’t exactly “most people”. He removed the cover and chucked it violently at the robot on guard. The guard shut down as Ozul had somehow managed to turn off a switch with his throw. He dropped down and looked around tactfully. He pressed a large red button labeled “Open/Close ALL CELLS” and watched as they rattled to life. He waited for the prisoners to leave their cells and head to the common area before revealing himself. He’d rescue these people first, Shadow surely had the other half of the mission covered didn’t he? Ozul led the pack of assorted victims to the main hanger, having them sit behind some boxes for cover. Behind him he heard explosives ring through the base and looked to the control room, noticing that it was now shuttered. Explosions rang closer and closer as the platform rose and the ceiling rose too. Eventually the crack of moonlight exposed the empty hanger, as Ozul quickly led his former cellmates out of the hanger and into the forest, watching as the explosions came closer and closer. He watched as a slower figure painted black with the shadows disappeared with the hanger as it shook while crashing violently to the ground far below.

…

He had  **_failed_ ** . Ozul sank to his knees in the dirt. It took him a few moments to look down upon the bottomless pit that now held his failure. He had let an innocent die, he protected himself before saving others. His eyes sunk as did his head. The people behind him started talking among themselves quietly.

_-_-_-_

Shadow walked slowly with loud footsteps on the dirt so as to not scare anyone, the moonlight reflecting off his eyes. He watched as that fool looked down to the caves below, a group of innocents behind him.

“Come on, follow me and I’ll lead you to civilization.” Shadow barked at the crowd, walking past.

The group followed him as he looked back one last time to that fool.

“I’ll see you at LZ in 15 minutes.” Shadow said, watching as the panthers face turned from distraught to disinterested very slowly and unconvincingly.

“On it” the Fool's voice wavered.

Shadow would deal with that situation later, right now he had to protect these people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally onto the good bit, eh?


	9. Game of Cards, Anyone?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Notice: Death, Trauma, Alcohol, Unhealthy Coping, The Dutch  
> Word Count: 3851

Being sent on a mission right after returning was something Shadow was used to by now, it had happened many times. However what marked his current mission as interesting was that he’d been sent on a mission to be an efficient contract killer. Shadow sat on the train, his partner further down and on the other side. He looked down at his black suit, his once white gloves black too and his limiter rings hidden. Extensive make-up had hidden his red streaks and painted them white. His white dress shirt and blood red tie the only contrast. Inside the jacket sat a few possessions, a pistol with a silencer, a lock pick, sedative drugs along with other various poisons, and a very strong wire that if he were to twirl his fingers around the end, could end a life efficiently. With his partner, dressed in a suit like his but with no tie, lay a metal briefcase, inside was a sniper rifle. Speaking of the fool, the two hadn’t spoken since Shadow’s little… Well let’s just say that there’s much more to the story than what’s told. The train continued to rattle, but now slower. The target he was to kill just so happened to be at a party that night, where he’d be handing off some rather sensitive information on G.U.N to someone, and from there it could end up anywhere. Shadow stood and exited the train as the doors opened, his partner exiting a different way and a few moments after himself. Shadow’s target was one of the trainee’s for G.U.N that could’ve become his problem instead of the fool. A red feathered cardinal named Antonio, he was the designated target. However he’d apparently been working alongside another compatriot named Jack, though not much of anything was known of him. Shadow walked calmly down the street, as snowfall made its way down. Neither of them had invites, and Shadow had been instructed not to take his Chaos Emerald, to which he reluctantly complied. He knew the fool planned to store away his sniper rifle, and had a much different approach to the mission at hand then he did. However Shadow felt his approach was much more tactful than whatever the fool was going to do. Silently he followed a guard and watched him turn around, as he did so Shadow opened the gate with his lock pick and entered the walled compound, quickly he dashed to the garage on his right and peered through the door, just one man on duty. Silently as the guard turned around he walked behind him, a room with two door frames was in front of him and a car to his right. He stalked the guard until he turned the corner, to which Shadow entered the room and waited for his footsteps to come back closer. As the guard moved back to the door Shadow snuck behind him and into a hallway, he looked to his left and saw a door. He decided to enter and to his surprise found a waiters uniform. Thinking quickly Shadow put on the uniform and walked further down the hall, he walked past a guard who’d opened a door facing his direction the moment he’d turned the corner and passed another guard into the kitchen who seemed to be a little suspicious of Shadow. He continued past him into the kitchen and picked up a champagne glass. He walked out of the kitchen past a chef and found a spiraling staircase to his right, as he climbed it he wondered how his partner was getting on. Shadow then opened two cherry wood doors and found himself in a much nicer place, to his left was a bathroom that he quickly ducked into, pulling out a small bottle of Ricin, a deadly poison that would cause the ingester to have respiratory problems as well as intestinal bleeding and organ damage. A small dosage could kill someone within 3 days, with the amount Shadow had poured into the drink, it could kill someone within 3 minutes, and that was being very generous. He opened the door and walked out to the grand hall, two large staircases met the front door as a waiter walked behind Shadow and a party guest walked to the bathroom. Shadow walked down a few steps and opened the door to the party which was somewhat empty, though he’d heard whisperings of a poker game somewhere in the building and assumed that at least some of the guests would be there, after all it was a very large mansion. Shadow waited patiently as he watched his new friend Antonio enter the room.

“A drink sir?” Shadow asked calmly.

“Are they any good?” Antonio asked, clearly already a bit drunk.

“They’re to die for.” Shadow responded in the same calm tone.

Shadow watched as Antonio took the glass from him and drank it down on the spot, he turned away as if he was headed back to the kitchen. He listened as Antonio coughed violently behind him before rushing off and speeding past him to the bathroom. Shadow knew his work was done, there was nothing that Antonio could do in that time frame except hide himself in the bathroom as he slowly faded from existence. However Shadow’s job was not over, he still needed those documents after all. Shadow walked out to a door on his left guarded by a man next to one of the staircases, calmly he walked past him and carried on to a new section of the mansion. He descended a small set of steps and into a hallway, he followed two men as they entered the first room on the left. Shadow looked around before silently creeping to the doorstep and peering through the keyhole, watching one of the guards do his job for him as he opened the safe. Shadow opened the door and retrieved his pistol, shooting the two guards in the head without hesitation. Shadow picked up the briefcase and shut the door behind him as he left. He retraced his steps to the kitchen and continued his path back, it was an expensive suit after all. He walked back into the room and changed into his suit, waiting for his moment he passed the guard in the garage the same way again and escaped quietly. He walked out of the compound from the gate he had entered and headed for the train station. He descended the long staircase and waited for his train, beside him on the bench sat the fool. The two looked ahead and around for signs of their train.

“How was your day?” the fool asked.

“It went well, I just got off my shift as a waiter. Yourself?” Shadow responded.

“Won a card game.” the Fool responded as the train pulled in.

_-_-_-_

Ozul waited for Shadow to leave the train, he left behind soon enough. On him he had a sniper rifle packed within a briefcase, a lock pick, a burner cell phone along with a little device that would give him the cell phone number of all nearby phones, a strong wire Shadow had recommended he take, a silenced pistol in case things got intense, and of course his card feeder. Ozul had been asked specifically not to bring the card feeder, but his logic was that if he could sneak it past the rigorous checks of G.U.N, this would be just as easy. Ozul left the station as he watched Shadow disappear into the side of the compound. Ozul had poured over both their strategies and thought Shadow’s to be rather clever, however his approach didn’t give him any intel on if Jack was here. Ozul headed into the hotel he’d been booked and pressed a button on the elevator, 7th floor. Room 307, he entered and set down his briefcase. If all went well he wouldn’t need it until later. Ozul then left the hotel and decided to enter the way Shadow had, at least partially. Where Ozul differed was that instead of entering the garage, he would walk around the back of the mansion and enter a side door. Putting away his lock pick, he calmly walked up the stairs and to the right. Getting into this card game was going to be simple, all he needed to do was win, and Ozul had made a habit of winning, he very much liked doing it.

As he opened the door he noticed a few people gathered around a dimly lit table, a seat at the end left open.

“Mind if I join?” Ozul asked.

“What’s your name?” One of the players asked.

“Names are for friends, so I don’t need one.” Ozul responded to which a white wolf at the other end of the table howled in laughter.

“I like you I like you, come sit. We shall see if your card game is as good as your wit ah?” The white wolf said.

Ozul sat himself at the table and was then dealt cards with the group, of them a mixture of humans and mobians. In his hand sat a pair of 3’s, and a 10, a 4, and a 6. He traded in the 10, 4, and 6. Now he had a pair of 3’s and a pair of Jacks. Ozul decided for his first few rounds, he’d bet without risks. A few players folded before it came to Ozul, the bet for this round was $150. He looked across the table at the players still in the game, rather the only other player. The white wolf. Ozul slid the money in and waited for a response.

“Very bold very bold my friend, you must tell me what drives such confidence.” The white wolf said.

“Victory does.” Ozul responded.

The pair laid down their cards, the white wolf had absolutely nothing to show for, meaning Ozul had won. Ozul claimed his money and waited to be dealt another hand. Unknown to everyone but Ozul, he’d also managed during that time to secure the phone number of the white wolf. Anyone that was that bombastic must be a person of interest.

“Let me introduce myself to you Mr…?” the white wolf asked, sensing this was his opportunity he knew he must reply.

“Most call me Terios.” Ozul lied, in fact that was Shadow’s code name.

“Aha Mr. Terios, well I thank you for joining us. My name is Jack.” Jack the White Wolf said, for the first time Ozul took notice of Jack, one eye was a crude Amber while the other was brilliant blue. His suit was a brilliant gold and white, he clearly didn’t mind showing off.

The group were dealt hands once more. Ozul looked at his hand, absolutely nothing. A 9, 5, Ace, 2, and 8. Ozul put back the 2 and the 5, if nothing else he did have an Ace up his sleeve… literally. His hand was much better, suspiciously so. He now had an Ace, a 9, 8, and a pair of Kings. Ozul had been counting cards, the Kings had not been there before because they’d all been folded and used last round. Ozul bet normally, losing this round to a pundit on the side of the table with a triplet of 3’s.

“If you’ll excuse me, I need to use the men’s room.” Ozul said, excusing himself.

“Alright Mr. Terios, I will save the seat for you!” Jack boomed with laughter. His attitude was unsettling. Ozul made his way downstairs to the bathroom, only to see a body clumsily on the ground, Antonio. Ozul crawled under the stall and sat his corpse down on the toilet to buy Shadow more time. Ozul then opened the window and climbed through it. Escaping out the side door and heading to the hotel. As he climbed the stairs he thought about the man he’d just played cards with. He was an odd fellow, certainly odd enough to be a target… But what secrets was he hiding? Unfortunately Ozul wouldn’t get much of a chance to see just what was hidden, a motto he’d once read in a book fit this situation. “Dead men tell no tales”. Ozul took the elevator to the roof, briefcase in hand and the wind blowing ferociously, snowfall drifting gently. He opened his briefcase and calmly assembled his weapon, he’d never used a gun in practice but he’d been trained on how to do so. As he screwed on the silencer he positioned himself at the balcony. He took out his phone and rang the number, waiting for a response. He watched through the window as the white wolf opened the balcony doors and answered the call.

“Who is this?” A voice demanded.

“Say Jack, you didn’t happen to add a few Kings to the deck did you?” Ozul asked.

“Terios, where is that RAT!” the voice said angrily.

“Shame, if you played fair the game might have been interesting.” Ozul said, he steadied himself. The stock of the sniper rifle braced against his shoulder like that of a child in a mother's loving arms. The trigger is no different to one on an arcade machine. The scope’s cold metal pressing against his eye he held his breath. As if it was in slow motion he could almost watch as the fire exploded from the tip of the rifle shooting out a projectile. Taking a life, it was almost like an art form. Don’t get it twisted, nothing about this art was positive and nothing to it felt like it had good intent. It felt brutal and awful, every fiber of his being revolted against it. But once the deed had been done, and he watched as the body toppled over the railing and onto the snow, now stained red. He thought about it in a graceful manner, taking a life was not a good thing… But no matter what this unnameable feeling stuck with him.

_-_-_-_

“You look pale” Shadow said, the first time he’d said anything in hours. They were on another train, this one would lead them to an airport where they’d board a private jet and finally have home time.

“I-I’m fine.” Ozul said quietly. His eyes dilated and his expression showed a very deep sorrow and confusion.

The silence ate at Ozul’s conscience, Shadow could see this.

“Shadow do.. what..” Ozul stopped, not being able to find the right words.

Shadow looked at the fool, he looked weak and pathetic… But also helplessly lost.

The train halted to a stop as Shadow and Ozul grabbed their belongings and filed out of the train, luckily their stop was exactly at the airport and a car waited outside for them to travel into the airport without going through security. The pair entered and drove through a gate that opened, entering onto a blacked out jet. The two sat completely alone on the plane, the pilot shutting his door and preparing the jet to take off.

“Shadow… What was it like?” Ozul choked out finally.

“What was _what_ like?” Shadow asked.

“Your first… first time… _killing someone_.” Ozul said, his voice lowering to a sad whisper.

Shadow thought for a moment, that’s what this was. He’d never killed someone before… Shadow didn’t know if he should be angry that G.U.N sent him out with someone who wasn’t prepared or sympathetic… Though he supposed that the former was technically his job.

Shadow sighed, taking a moment. “It was… Scary.” he stated after some time.

The pleading and desperate eyes of that fool made him give in.

“Back in… A long time ago, a very long time ago I was created. With my creation came scientists, and at first they wanted the same that I did… To help my sister.” Shadow paused, sniffling slightly before continuing. “However over time they saw what could become of my powers and as such they… Became more curious, and more focused on my potential as a weapon.” Shadow again paused, taking a look out the window. “They kept prodding me and prodding me until one day… I exploded with rage and… I don’t think the gory details will help here.” Shadow again paused, now turning his attention back to the fool. “Slowly they turned me into what I am, but that night I was terrified. I…” Shadow trailed off, stopping his sentence before talking about things that his partner had no business hearing.

“I… I almost enjoyed it in a way.” Ozul sobbed, looking remorseful. “The art of it, I knew that taking his life was wrong and my body kept trying to fight against me but… Watching his body collapse and tumble from the balcony onto the snow and staining the pure whiteness… There was solemn beauty in it.” Ozul tried to make his cry a silent one, but a few hitches of breath and the tears welling in his eyes made it impossible.

“It’s… Understandable.” Shadow said after some time. “Everyone deals with trauma in different ways… Some time after that incident when I was prodded into killing again, they’d been… They’d been raising the stakes, so being able to get back at the people that were responsible felt… good.” Shadow stopped again, thinking for a moment. “After a few minutes, I was upset and sad and… terrified.” Shadow finished.

Shadow stood from his seat and walked to the back of the jet, fetching two glasses and a bottle of whisky from the cabinet. He was no therapist, and drowning that fool’s problem in alcohol was just a temporary fix… But his tending of the fool was temporary too so it seemed to work for him. Shadow set down the glasses and poured the drinks quickly before setting it down on the table right next to the glasses.

“They’ve uh… They have therapists at G.U.N, I can set you up with one.” Shadow said, raising his glass and leaning back in his seat.

Ozul simply nodded, drinking his glass in one long motion.

Shadow took a small drink from his glass, the burning sensation hitting his throat instantly. He set the glass down and closed his eyes, it was a long flight.

_-_-_-_

The morning sun shone brightly to Shadow’s once sleeping eyes. At some point the radio had been started, or maybe it had always been on. Shadow noticed his glass still had drink in it, but also noticed the two completely empty bottles and the one half empty bottle in the fool’s hand, some of the drink spilled on his suit. Shadow stood from his seat and moved to the bathroom. He took a washcloth and ran it under the water before starting to remove the white makeup on his quills. Silently he worked away at it as he felt the cold drips of water fall onto his suit.

It took some time but finally his quills had come back to their natural red. Shadow left the bathroom and moved back to their seats, taking the bottle from the fool’s hand and putting the cork back on, setting it in the cabinet. He pushed his body back to an upright position and fastened his seat belt as well as his own, he could feel the plane descending.

  
  


As the plane came to a complete stop Shadow watched another vehicle with blacked out windows pull next to them. Shadow unbuckled the unconscious fool and carried him out of the plane, putting him in the vehicle and buckling him up. Shadow himself got in and buckled himself in, waiting for the ride to be over.

Shadow finally had arrived at his apartment block. He thanked the driver before taking Ozul out of his seat and carrying him to the medical ward. He walked silently and quickly, the heat of the sun belting down on his back. He quietly walked into the medical ward and past reception, it was company policy that you had to check your health and vital signs after a mission, unless if you were going to go right back out into the field. Shadow walked quietly into a room and set down the fool before sitting himself down. He knew a doctor would be along soon enough.

_-_-_-_

“Ok, last thing here is just seeing if you have any unnatural temperature.” The doctor said she was a caring woman who’s voice sometimes couldn’t find the right pattern to speak the words she wanted.

Shadow waited patiently as a thermometer end was given to him, which he stuck under his tongue. The pair had worked together long enough for her to understand Shadow didn’t like people prodding him, and felt much more comfortable doing it himself. 

“Ok and normal, that’s good.” She said as the thermometer beeped.

  
“What should I do about him?” Shadow asked, pointing back at the fool who was still asleep.

“Well you can’t leave him here and what I know of he is fine, so I will just take down the report now.” The doctor responded, typing something on her keyboard.

“Have a good day, doctor.” Shadow said, pulling the fool up and carrying him outside. The sun continued to beam down on his back.

He walked silently to the apartments, he didn’t exactly know which one he lived in and… He couldn’t have him wandering off in this state. Shadow reluctantly entered the elevator and pressed the button to his floor. The elevator shot up through the shaft until a noise ended its journey, the doors sliding open. Shadow continued to his apartment door and opened it, noticing how quiet it was. He finally brought the fool to his couch and set him down. Turning back he closed his door and grabbed a sheet of paper and a pen before transcribing a small note. Upon finishing it, he moved to his room and removed the suit and changed back into normal clothing. Shadow then left his room and carried on to his personal library, opening the door and turning on the lights. He looked at the radio and turned it on, no need to lower the volume because Shadow preferred the quiet, he just needed the noise. After a few moments he walked to the wall facing the door, a desk sat there along with a bookshelf that surrounded the cut-in desk. Shadow stepped up on the desk and grabbed a book high on the shelf. He came back down and sat on a collection of blankets and a bean bag chair. He flipped through the pages, photo after photo. Document report after document report. Shadow flipped to the very end, and then flipped back several pages. Shadow sighed, looking back to the title of the book.

Project Shadow ARK Archives

_PERSONAL; DON’T TOUCH IT!_

That little note at the end once served purpose for Rouge, but now had little meaning that she’d set up her own living space. Shadow flipped back to the page and prepared to read, it had been awhile since he’d gone through these.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure why, I just envisioned Jack to have the voice of a Dutch person that's all.


	10. Unbounded Anxiety

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Notice: Abuse, Gore, Anxiety  
> Word Count: 1480

“I’ll see you after your classes Maria.” Shadow said, moving to the door.

“Good luck with those tests they’re making you do Shadow.” Maria said, pulling Shadow into a gentle hug.

The two eventually broke the hug and Shadow left her room. Shadow didn’t really tell Maria what was being done in those tests, only that they were mandatory. Shadow hadn’t seen Gerald in quite some time, and the last time he did see him Shadow had no reason to worry about the tests. However as he slowly continued his way down the hall Shadow knew that had very much changed. Instead of the tests of his reaction to various diseases and chemicals to advance the medical capabilities and to further affect finding a cure for N.I.D.S, Shadow had been recently subjected to tests of strength and combat. The first time it happened Shadow had complied, he’d been told that what he was doing was helping Maria, but when he mentioned it to Gerald he saw the look on his face. Gerald hadn’t said anything other than “Oh.”, but that was more than enough for Shadow to figure out that what was happening was not helping Maria, nor did it seem that Gerald even had any knowledge of it.

“Welcome Project: Shadow, take a moment to prepare yourself and we’ll start the trials soon.” A voice over intercom said. 

Shadow hated that he was never called by name, nor was he referred to as anything other than a beast or an animal. The other scientists had no respect for him. He looked to his left and up slightly, taking note of the large glass windows that looked down onto him. There had to be at least twelve scientists up there, and a few men in suits. Some soldiers descended the stairs in the back of the room and Shadow knew that was his cue to prepare himself. Shadow had been thinking about this test for awhile, and he figured if he stopped producing any data and didn’t fight back they’d have no choice but to see him as useless and stop testing him. Just as Shadow had suspected a group of soldiers made their way down the stairs, there were only three of them so Shadow could easily just avoid their attacks and not respond. However what Shadow hadn’t noticed was the 5 guards who’d entered behind him

_-_-_-_

Shadow had been on the ground for the past 6 minutes and had only been conscious for the last two. Boots continued to stomp on his body, refusing to let him back up. He was on his stomach looking straight up at the window.

“Come on, you're not being very effective right now.” A voice said over the intercom.

That gave Shadow a little hope, at least they had no usable data. That was good.

Boots continued to hit into Shadow, it hurt an awful lot but he had to carry on so he could go back to working for a cure for Maria. He had to be strong.

“If you don’t fight back I’ll have no choice but to call in the rest of the guards, they’d love to have the opportunity to get some practice in.” The cold voice spoke.

Shadow continued to wait, boots and fists being hit into him.

_-_-_-_

Shadow woke once more, the cold voice more demanding and unhappy though he couldn’t make it out just yet. The first thing he could sense was the immense pain he was in, and the pummeling of boots, rifle butts, and fists as well as other objects being hit into him with intense force. His head rang in pain and his eyes felt blurry.

“Your indecision to fight is hurting our progress, your friend will die because of you.” The cold voice said.

Shadow’s eyes flared with hatred. They were blaming this on him? How in the world was this helping Maria? They were weaponizing him!

The man from the window smirked, noticing Shadow’s displeasure at the mention of Maria.

“What’s her name? Maria wasn’t it… Quite a nice girl. It’s a tragedy you no longer want to help her and instead prefer to lay here as target practice.” The voice prodded.

Maria had nothing to do with this, they had no ri-

“Hmm, perhaps we should just go get her now and make her watch this. Go get her and tell her that Shadow has given up on her.” The man pointed to a colleague who looked to be exiting the room.

No, no no no no no no NO! Shadow had not given up on Maria he HAD NOT! Shadow could feel his insides burning with hatred and rage. He shut his eyes involuntarily and he could feel the heat escape from his body. It felt as if it was being lifted into the air and that the hatred and rage was literally seeping off his body and through the room, growing more and more distant. Shadow fell to a knee and noticed a distinct lack of attacking. Slowly he heard clapping from the sound system, he’d still yet to open his eyes.

“THAT is what I like to see, Project: Shadow!” The voice said, the group still clapping.

Shadow opened his eyes, the first thing he noticed was that some of the lights had broken. He stood, surveying the area around him. Where were the soldiers who had just been beating him? It was only then he noticed the blood stained ground and walls, the bodies strewn around the training area and the sound of a few soldiers whimpering in pain, one screaming in pain in the distance.

What had he done? What just happened? Oh no. This was his fault, he needed to leave before something happened.

Shadow found himself in the hallways in the blink of an eye. Skating down them as fast as possible. He skidded to a stop outside the living quarters, specifically the hallway Maria was in. He focused as hard as he could and appeared behind a grate for a vent.

Shadow couldn’t comprehend what just happened, had he just… There’s no way he could’ve.

Shadow held his knees to his chest for comfort. His emotions were running on high alert and his mind unable to cope with what he’d just done. He waited there quietly for some time, thoughts racing through his mind at the speed of sound.

_-_-_-_

Shadow’s body tensed as he heard footsteps in the hallway, his knees still clutched to his chest. It must have been at least a few hours since the events and he still felt just as anxious as he had earlier. He watched as a pair of blue shoes walked past, suddenly stopping just as they started to walk out of view. They turned around and stopped for a brief moment before walking over to the vent and crouching down.

“Shadow… are you okay?” Maria asked in a very hushed tone.

Shadow barely had the strength to look at her, only now noticing his sharp and uneven breathing, he must have been going on like this the whole time without noticing. Maria silently removed the vent cover and pulled it out for Shadow. She helped him out and put the cover back on, walking beside him into her room. She set her books down on the desk and sat herself on her bed, Shadow sitting close next to her.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Maria asked softly.

Shadow still could barely look at her, let alone speak.

Maria laid down on her bed and brought Shadow into her arms, he curled up tightly next to her and began to cry softly, Maria running a hand back and forth on his back.

“It’ll be okay Shadow, it’ll be okay. I’m here for you.” Maria said gently.

_-_-_-_

Shadow set down the report next to him, wiping the single tear from his eye. That day may have been one of the worst days he’d ever experienced. Not only was that the start of him losing Maria, but it was also bittersweet in that he got to spend the next two days with Maria in her room, even if he was completely terrified and saddened beyond belief her comfort somehow made things okay in the end.

Standing from his chair, Shadow set the book on the desk and made his way to leave his personal library. He turned off the stereo and the lights before opening the door. He looked around and noticed that the Fool had made his way out of his house by now, which worked for Shadow. He looked at his calendar and flipped to April, which was in a few days. April 4th, “Bring Hope to Humanity”. He just hoped he had no missions that day, he had much more important business to attend to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Interesting that there's no real plot yet but we're only 5 chapters away from the end, huh?


	11. Sayonara

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Notice: Depression, Grieving  
> Word Count: 1625

Slowly, Shadow opened his eyes to watch a thunderstorm mercilessly reign terror over the clouds and the rain coming down harshly. Shadow looked to the glowing red numbers that faced him.

“Who gets up at 2 AM?” Shadow asked the empty room. Unsurprisingly no answer returned.

Not wanting to have to re-live, nor rethink the terrible images and thoughts that had awoken his dreams in the first place, Shadow removed the covers from his bed and moved to a sitting position. He thought for a moment before deciding that he’d just call in sick today, he just wasn’t in the mood to do anything. Now that he was choosing to stay up, he got out of his bed and walked to the bathroom. Looking in the mirror only revealed his own tired and very sullen eyes. He knew what today was, he was just hoping it went smoothly without interruption. Shadow opened the glass door of his shower and turned the water on. He prepared himself momentarily before stepping in, the heat of the water foreign most of the time as he preferred cold showers most of the time but today he’d make an exception. With nothing to do but clean himself and with no need to hurry, Shadow turned the shower head to face more down to the floor and wall before slumping against the wall and sitting down, pitching his head forward to rest on his knees and wrapping his arms around them.

Shadow just sat there with nothing on his mind, waiting.

…

…

…

and waiting

…

…

…

…

and waiting

…

And most importantly, waiting.

Finally, he looked up at the ceiling before deciding to stand again. He supposed he’d better start cleaning himself now. 

…

Before he knew it, Shadow was done with his shower and had managed to turn off the water. Now finishing the drying process Shadow finally caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror, noticing that although the drowsiness was gone the melancholy certainly hadn’t made an effort to disappear. He sighed deeply, placing his hands on the counter. Turning on the faucet and splashing cold water on his face did nothing but Shadow had done it anyways. Giving up he finally finished drying himself and turned off the light, heading for his closet and changing into his normal clothing like he would any other day. The lightning cracked against the somber backdrop. Taking a moment before opening his door he noted that the time now was 3:53 AM. Had he really wasted two hours of his day showering in dejection? Pathetic. Unfortunately it was a little too early to start drinking heavily today, besides he wanted to be at least a little presentable when he went out to take care of things. Thunder followed his thought train, interrupting it and diverting it. Shadow walked through his silent kitchen and opened his apartment door, leaving and shutting it quietly behind him. The descent of stairs became a long and unnervingly quiet one. 

…

Shadow had finally made it to the deserted lobby save for the security guard and receptionist. The guard looked to question Shadow but he opened the front door and walked past him before he could get a word out. The rain was coming down as harshly as Shadow had ever seen, though that didn’t stop Shadow. He continued his walk, for it was to be a very very long walk.

_-_-_-_

The only other people who really lived close to Sonic and Tails was Amy and a few other houses in the rather spread out community, and at Amy’s house just so happened to sit in a rather sizable garden. Truth be told it was a community garden, but it just so happened to occupy a portion of Amy’s property. Quietly Shadow walked past Amy’s house and towards the garden, Shadow had seen it a few times, and he knew that he could always rely on a few types of flowers to be there. He quietly opened the door and stepped inside the humid facility. He was the only one inside but the lights above hummed regardless. Stepping carefully over a small puddle from a hose and grabbing some cutters Shadow walked down the paths until he found a section of roses. Checking both ways he crouched down and snipped a handful of white roses, then half as many blue roses. Then, he took a rose that was in-between white and red and another rose that’s shade looked almost black. He set down the cutters next to the flowers and bundled the roses in his left hand before heading back out of the garden. People would be waking up soon so he needed to leave early. It was shameful in a way, taking advantage of those who were sleeping? How miserable. Shadow shook his head as if the thoughts were clinging onto him and quietly snuck back past Amy’s home. He had another long journey ahead into the city.

_-_-_-_

The rain had not eased up yet but the thunder and lightning had parted for now. Shadow had walked just as solemnly as before to a monumental wall that sat in a drop in the ground, with stairs that led down to it. Thankfully the area was only slightly wet with the drains having taken care of the rainfall. Two yellow street lights illuminated the steps down to the wide wall. Shadow ran his hand along the wall. “A”, “B”, “F”, “J”, “M”, “M again”, “R”. Shadow stopped scanning the wall down, he already knew the location but tracing for it felt much more… respectful. The final name of the column, just below “Gerald Robotnik.”

“Maria…” Shadow spoke softly, he wanted to say something but he just wasn’t sure what to say.

He held the flowers in both hands, he thought for a long time before speaking again. The quiet street had made no noise since he first spoke, it was as if even life itself was giving a moment for Shadow to pay his respects this year.

“I… I miss you, I tell you that every year but… I just wish I could be with you. I’ve been thinking about you a lot recently, our time together on the ARK… The day I felt I was starting to lose you, it still hurts to think about all that.” Shadow said, restraining a choked sob. “I’ve got a new partner now, and not by choice… I didn’t want him and I still don’t know how to feel about him. He’s a good kid but-, I just don’t want change. I’ve also been having some thoughts recently… Some particularly unwell ones, the kind that would end my anguish. However I know you wouldn’t want that… Not yet anyways, and I’ve still got a promise to fulfill to you. I haven’t forgotten that, I never will. I hope however you are spending eternity, or wherever it is you are… if you can even hear me that is, I hope it’s treating you well. I know I should say more but… I’ve never been one for mindless rambling.” Shadow set down the roses, setting the red and black ones on top and in the middle of the pile, surrounded by blue and white. He stepped back, wiping a tear from his eye. “Sayonara, Maria Robotnik.”

…

It took Shadow another few minutes, but eventually he reascended the stairs and kept along his journey. Sluggishly he walked his way to the apartment complex, now filled with a few more people. Shadow walked up the stairs, however on the 3rd floor he was unfortunately stopped.

“Hey Shadow!” An unfortunately familiar voice called out.

“What.” Shadow asked in a monotone voice.

“I just wanted to thank you for letting me crash on your couch a few days ago man.” the fool said.

Shadow moved to walk away when he was again stopped, his back now turned and one foot on the bottom step.

“Hey are you alright man?” that fool asked.

“Go away.” Shadow spoke with anger.

“Nah I’m serious man, you don’t look like you’re doing too hot.” that fool spoke, putting an arm on Shadows back.

Shadow spun around and grabbed that fool by the throat, pressing him against the window in the hallway.

“GO AWAY.” Shadow commanded, his words oozing venom and malice.

Shadow squeezed a little harder before hearing someone making their way to them and letting go. That damn fool dropped to the ground and to a knee, coughing heavily. Shadow thought for a moment before retrieving his Chaos Emerald from his quills and disappearing within a flash of an eye.

…

.- .-. -.-

…

Shadow hadn’t exactly intended to end up here. He wasn’t in his apartment, he wasn’t in Rouge’s apartment nor was he in her club. Not even Faker’s home or the garden or monument. He was home, his first home. Shadow looked out the large window and out to the globe, the world looked beautiful from up here. Shadow hated to admit it, but he did come here sometimes just to disappear. No one else could get to him up here, not without tremendous effort that he wasn’t worth. Slowly he opened the door from the very laboratory he was created in and headed to the living quarters. He walked to a room next to Maria’s and opened it, a collection of Shadow’s belongings sat there. It had never been his room, but Shadow didn’t want to use Maria’s room for storage of things like alcohol. Shadow took a few bottles of alcohol and left the room and entered Maria’s, sitting at her desk and opening the bottles. Hopefully he could just drink his way out of sorrow today.


	12. Aidos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Notice: N/A  
> Word Count: 1011

Ozul woke up comfortably, the sound of the rain pouring outside just felt so relaxing and inviting. However, not wanting to waste time he soon got out of bed and headed to his shower.

“If I take a shower now, hopefully I can catch Shadow at the gym or something and thank the guy.” Ozul reasoned.

The glass door opened and the shock of cold water stung for a moment but not for too long, so he quickly hopped in and started to cleanse himself. Showers never took long for Ozul, he’d been instructed to take no longer than a few minutes with it on if he could. Not to say Ozul never broke the rule, but he did his best not to make anyone angry just yet.

_-_-_-_

Ozul had been awake for maybe an hour now, in that time he’d showered, made himself breakfast and coffee, dressed himself for the day, and prepared himself to hopefully talk to Shadow today. He hadn’t seen him in at least a week, similarly there had been no missions to go on… But that could also be because G.U.N knew he was still trying to cope with all… that. 

“Oh wait! Should probably remember to thank him for that too while I’m at it.” Ozul spoke his thoughts aloud.

Opening his door to the hall he heard footsteps coming up the staircase very slowly. Ozul turned around and locked his door, he supposed he could ask the receptionist for what apartment Shadow was in, he hadn’t bothered to look when he got up from the couch that morning. Ozul turned around, the steps sounded very close now.

“Hey Shadow!” Ozul called out.

“What.” Shadow responded in a demoralized and monotone voice.

“I just wanted to thank you for letting me crash on your couch a few days ago man.” Ozul said.

Shadow ignored him and moved to continue up the stairs, had he done something wrong? Ozul took a closer look at Shadow, he looked very unhappy and like something was bothering him deeply.

“Hey are you alright man?” Ozul asked.

“Go away.” Shadow spoke with anger.

“Nah I’m serious man, you don’t look like you’re doing too hot.” Ozul spoke, putting a comforting arm on Shadows back.

Shadow spun around and grabbed Ozul by the throat, pressing him against the window in the hallway. The grip on his throat was tight and compressing.

“GO AWAY.” Shadow commanded, his words oozing venom and malice.

Faint footsteps descended the stairs quickly, Shadow’s grip tightened around Ozul’s throat before he too noticed. Ozul was swiftly let go and dropped to his knee, trying to catch his breath. Upon looking back up Shadow was… Gone?

“Did you run into Shadow?” A woman’s voice asked.

“If that’s how you want to describe it sure.” Ozul said after some time.

“I bet he’s sulking in his apartment, come on.” Ozul finally looked at who was speaking, it was that lady who’d been watching him train. He at least remembered that much of that day, but not really much else once the tests started.

“Wait a minute who exactly are you?” Ozul asked while following her up the stairs.

“Name’s Rouge.” Rouge said, the pair continuing to climb the stairs.

“Oh uh my name’s Ozul.” Ozul responded.

“I knew that already but thanks for the reminder kid. At least one of us paid some attention during the meeting.” Rouge commented.

“So uh, how exactly do you know Shadow?” Ozul asked, it felt as if they’d been climbing for ages.

“Well you're the reason I’m not working with him any more, normally they pair us up.” Rouge said, feigning an emotion that Ozul couldn’t even begin to describe.

…

“Sorry…” Ozul said finally.

“Don’t sweat it kid, now stay out of sight of the doorway because he’ll probably try to kill anyone who isn’t me this week… Even then I’m not so sure.” Rouge said, her voice dropping and becoming less commanding and more shaky and quieter as the sentence trailed on.

“Shadow, you in there?” Rouge knocked against the door.

No response.

“I’m going to give you until the count of 3 before I enter.” Rouge said, knocking again.

“One.” Rouge warned, taking a small metal device from one of her pockets.

“Three.” Rouge said, now opening the door and waving Ozul to come closer.

“I might have forgotten a number there but it’s not polite to keep a lady waiting.” Rouge called to the empty room. Ozul entered behind her.

“Brave of you to enter before I call it clear.” Rouge commented as a smirk adorned her face.

“Harder to kill two people than one.” Ozul retorted.

“For us, maybe.” Rouge jested.

The two searched the house, finding no trace of anyone other than the copious amounts of alcohol bottles that sat on the kitchen count and strewn around the house, a book of old records in the makeshift library, the bedsheets and cover that seemed as if they’d seen a very restless night, and the master bathroom’s light which was still on. Ozul moved behind the counter and noticed a calendar, dates had been crossed out on it leading up to the 4th.

“Rouge?” Ozul called.

“What is it, you find a trace of the grouch?” Rouge asked.

“What does “Bring Hope to Humanity” mean for the 4th?” Ozul asked innocently.

“It’s the 4th?” Rouge asked.

“Yeah, why?” Ozul asked, turning to Rouge who’s face had dropped to a more serious appearance.

“Oh… That explains… a lot, if that’s the case then he’s probably… Damn it!” Rouge finished finally.

“I don’t get it?” Ozul said, confused to the point where it sounded like he was questioning his own question.

“Well, let’s just say Shadow probably won’t be back for awhile and when he does return, whenever that is, he isn’t going to be happy in the slightest. So when he comes back eventually, don’t press him about it.” Rouge said, now making her way to the door. “Now come on, let’s get out of here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very short chapter! Don't worry, have full intention to post 13 later today.


	13. The Hedgehog Who Sold the World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Notice: Violence  
> Word Count: 2314

Shadow wasn’t exactly sure how long he’d been away. Though he’d since left the ARK many many nights ago he still hadn’t returned home. Instead, Shadow was out in some distant desert far away from any form of civilization, at least that he knew of. It was peaceful in a way, not having to deal with any of his problems. It wasn’t so much as running away as it was taking an unannounced break for an undetermined amount of time. He’d found a cave entrance that served as a good place to sleep, and the vast desert left him with a lot of room to do whatever he wanted. During his time away he pondered many questions, things he’d never pressed into before. Why did he choose to work for G.U.N of all places? At what point did he finally fulfill his promise to Maria? What was he going to do after he’d fulfilled that promise? If the world turned against him at some point, would anyone stand by his side or would he have to fight it alone? What was he going to do when he started outliving his friends? Should he start closing himself off before anyone else he knows dies? And much more, as in the desert he didn’t have much else to do. Though maybe the most pressing question, the one that persisted in his mind no matter how much he tried to ignore it and not think about it, why had no one come looking for him yet?

_-_-_-_

Ozul had been without his real partner for months, April turned to May turned to June and now pushing July. Shadow was supposed to come back, but he hadn’t. Ozul had since just been tagging along with Rouge and a robot they worked with named Omega, and that had been good so far. However, Shadow had disappeared without a trace. He’d even gone as far as to ask Sonic to help, well Rouge had instructed him to ask Sonic to search the ARK… Whatever that was. Still, it yielded little result. Sonic had been busy lately and G.U.N missions had ramped up in intensity, some guy named Doctor Robotnik was threatening to take over the world, and was putting up quite the showing in doing so.

Today however, was different. Ozul was on his first mission alone, Rouge as well as most of G.U.N were busy fighting the Doctor, so he had no choice but to go alone. An anonymous tip had said Shadow was out in the middle of a desert not too far from some Sand Ruins in Mazuri. Currently he was flying in a helicopter over countless sand dunes. Ozul had been supplied with a few things such as a side pack to keep food and other very useful supplies in, a sleeping bag that was rolled up and behind his back on a harness, and special clothing that blended well with the sand dunes had been provided for him so his black fur would not burn him to death while in the desert. A scarf hung around his neck and shoulder for him to wipe away sweat. It was blazing hot in this desert. He’d also been provided with a communications device, but if he wanted anything imported it could take a day or two. Finally, he’d been given a knife that hung in it’s pouch by his leg and a pistol that had two shots in it, tranquilizer darts with enough power to take out six elephants and then some. It would probably only take one, but Ozul didn’t want to take chances if it came to it. He felt more than prepared for this, so he opened the helicopter door and looked out to the dunes as they started to descend.

It felt like ages but finally he was on the ground, the helicopter was gone and the heat of the sun pressed down on him. He looked around, the winds of sand his only company. Though, one other thing he’d brought with him was some old tape player, one tape had his mission briefing along with some other information he thought useful to record in case he needed it. The other tape was a music player, which would at least give him some reprieval from the loneliness. Deciding to waste no further time, he started his ascent into the desert. The high ground would likely be the best place to start and so he started climbing up the sand dune, the heat of the sand almost burning through his gloves.

Finally atop the dune, he noticed far in the distance lay a colosseum of sorts, that seems like a good enough starting point. So, he started walking.

_-_-_-_

Shadow was sat at the cave entrance, his view let him see a lot of things such as the top of the colosseum that lay in the distance and the oil rigs that sat just about as far away to is left that he was only able to see a glint of if he stood up. The thing he hadn’t noticed was that the oil rigs that had once been dormant now worked day and night. However Shadow grew tired of waiting in his cave and didn’t want to stay in the same place for too long, and considering he had no possessions to lose a walk wouldn’t hurt. Besides, being the ultimate lifeform meant being extremely resistant to things, one of those was heat. So finally, he stood up and began his descent down the canyon and into the white sands of the desert. The ruins felt like a much more interesting destination than some abandoned oil rig did so he started off in that direction.

_-_-_-_

The sky was pink, not orange or yellow or blue, it was almost certainly pink. Yellow was the sun and it shone brighter than it ever had. Another five minutes away was the coliseum that he’d been walking all day to get to, he felt drained and exhausted. The desert was a good place to think about things, like what exactly made Shadow run away? How was he going to react to being found? What if I never find him? What if no one can find me in the desert? Most importantly, why hadn’t he come back?

The structure of the coliseum was interesting, as if it was abandoned, used once, and then abandoned again. Banners hung from the entrance labeled “EX WGP” and an alternating red and blue pattern hung from two statues of birds. As Ozul closed in he noticed the brick pattern that led in, and as he got closer he noticed they all seemed to lead to a circle in the middle. 

Now he was standing inside the colosseum, and decided that if he was going to stay anywhere that this would be the place. But first he had to know what this tremendously long staircase led to. Banners hung around the place saying things such as “Welcome to FINAL STAGE”, which was an odd typo but from what he could gather there must have been a race here at some point. A table sat at the top of the stairs and from what he could tell a green gem sat there waiting. Ozul continued up the steps as quickly as he could.

“A Chaos Emerald?” Ozul questioned, now picking up the green emerald. He looked up and out to the sand dunes only to be wrapped up from behind. He couldn’t quite get a look at his assailant yet but he felt the Chaos Emerald leave his grasp and suddenly he was free again.

Quickly Ozul stood to his feet and scanned the area, no one was in sight but now he saw the Emerald once more, sitting in the middle of the colosseum and the convergence of the brick paths. Cautiously Ozul approached the Emerald, taking out his gun and knife this time, resting one hand atop the other. The sun had started to fade and a chill set across the desert. Ozul stopped on the final step and looked around him once more, he wasn’t going to be caught off guard this time. No-one responded so he walked over to the Chaos Emerald and put away his pistol, grabbing the gem with his now free hand. Once again arms snuck around him but this time Ozul was ready, he thrust the knife into the shoulder of the person behind him which let him have enough time to turn around, his new gem still in hand.

“So, they sent the fool?” said Shadow, taking the knife out of his arm slowly and tossing it to the ground beside him.

“Shadow?” Ozul asked, still on guard.

Shadow simply put himself in a fighting stance, not bothering to return a comment. Before Ozul had time to react Shadow had already pounced on him and knocked the gem away, with Shadow laying on him he just tried to move his head away from the strikes that had attempted to knock him unconscious. Ozul kicked Shadow in the back of the head, who recoiled giving Ozul a chance now to dive onto Shadow. The two rolled into the sand and off the metal they’d been previously standing on. Shadow then struck an elbow into Ozul’s cheek and attempted to push him off and escape his grasp. However Ozul wasn’t letting him go so easily, grabbing onto his foot and pulling him back to the sand before he could escape completely. Quickly Ozul reached for his pistol and drew it, but before he could aim it Shadow had rolled into a ball and struck Ozul’s chest which knocked the wind out of him. It seemed to be the end as Shadow walked calmly over to the Chaos Emerald but Ozul drew on everything he had left to leap and dive towards the gem, landing just in front of it and seizing it in his grasp. He looked to Shadow, who now had picked up the knife Ozul had stabbed him with. The blood on it… Green and a dark red? Shadow wiped the blade clean before getting into a fighting stance. Ozul now placed the gem in his bag as he stood. Preparing himself in a fighting stance. The two circled around each other until Shadow’s back was to the stairs. Ozul chased after Shadow as he dashed up the stairs. At the top Shadow suddenly stopped and turned around, kicking Ozul in the back of the head and watching as he fell back down the steps. Sand kicked up and coated Ozul’s body, he felt almost completely blind in his right eye. He watched as Shadow walked next to him and knelt beside him, Ozul was out of it and could only watch and listen.

“So they bring just you out here, huh? My services are no longer required, no need to teach you? Or is it the end of the world again… I wonder.” Shadow spoke as he dug through Ozul’s bag, retrieving the Chaos Emerald. “No one searches for me, not for a very very long time… But they send you, just you? How pitiful. If I wanted to I could end your suffering existence right here, just like you tried to end mine Fool.” Shadow paused, now standing. “Farewell.”

“Chaos Control.” Shadow said in a drawn out and harsh voice.

Ozul looked up to where the voice had come from, and seemingly once more Shadow was gone. At least now he knew Shadow was in the desert, but where? Ozul looked to find a figure skating in the distance towards the direction of the oil rigs. Ozul supposed he had his answer now. Standing he picked up the knife that sat nearby him and walked over to the gun, placing them in their holsters again. He then took out his radio and began the chase.

“Control I’ve found Shado-er, Terios! I’m chasing after him to some old oil rigs!” Ozul said into the comm as he ran as fast as he possibly could, turning it off and now jumping forward and running to try and make up pace.

_-_-_-_

Ozul hadn’t expected there to be light at the oil rig, nor had he suspected a robot presence. The machines worked tirelessly as they extracted oil from the ground. However Ozul had no time for this, he saw a ladder and quickly scaled it, sneaking behind a patrol of robots. From his new perch he watched as the robots transported goods from one location to another and saw one rather rotund man in what seemed to be some kind of mech. However most importantly Shadow loomed close to him, so Ozul hopped along the various machinery and thin wires until he was above Shadow. Shadow stood there with his arms folded facing the man and seemed to have no idea Ozul was even behind him. The panther shot forward at Shadow, and the two landed in the sand.

“Hohoho, what do we have here?” A voice boomed.

Ozul rose over Shadow who was flat to the ground.

“Get him.” The man said, and in an instant Ozul was on his back being restrained by a multitude of people who looked just like Shadow.

“Who might you be?” The man asked, his mustache was long and he wore a red coat with gold buttons and white stripes. Blue glasses covered his eyes.

“What’s it matter?” Ozul asked.

“Well I suppose your right… Shadow Androids, take him with us.” The menacing man cackled as he rose from the mech-walker and sped much faster on some carrier onto a large airship Ozul hadn’t noticed until now. Against his will he was dragged across the sand and to the ship. A bag going over his head as he neared the entrance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh hey look, plot!


	14. Lack of Skill

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Notice: N/A  
> Word Count: 1794

Shadow watched the fool storm towards the oil rigs from atop the coliseum. For a moment he wondered just what exactly he was running off towards, perhaps he was going to get backup. Leaning back and looking to the sand and brick floor now far below behind him, he noticed that both the knife he’d been stabbed with and the gun the fool had attempted to shoot him with. Shadow dropped down to the ground below and walked over to the knife and gun, kneeling beside them and inspecting them. The knife looked like it was more for use hunting or cutting vegetation than what it had been used for, and the gun was a simple tranquilizer with a suppressor.

“Hm, I could still have more fun with this situation.” Shadow mused, he picked up the knife and gun then started running towards the oil rigs.

From Shadow’s perch he watched as the fool was lining up to seemingly attack Doctor Robotnik, perhaps the situation was more serious than just the search and rescue then. To his horror, Shadow watched as the fool tackled into a robot of some sort and landed in front of the Doctor. Shadow decided to try and sneak closer to the Doctor and try to figure out what was happening.

“Well I suppose your right… Shadow Androids, take him with us.” Doctor Robotnik cackled. He disappeared from the height he’d once been at, presumably heading to his Egg-Carrier.

Thinking quickly Shadow used Chaos Control to appear on the top of the ship, it seems this rescue mission was the other way around now. The ship started to propel itself into the air, so Shadow quickly dashed to a hatch and opened it, now finding himself in the ventilation system. From a distance he heard voices and so, naturally, Shadow moved towards the voices.

_-_-_-_

Ozul was sitting in an empty metal room, his only accompaniment was the chair he’d been tied to, the light from the hall, and the man before him. Doctor Robotnik.

“So… Who is it that you work for? I haven’t seen  _ you  _ around here before.” The doctor asked, Ozul was thankful nothing on his suit led back to G.U.N.

“Afraid it’s not going to be that easy, at least give a little effort now.” Ozul prodded, hoping to stall for time though he wasn’t sure what he needed time for.

“My my, another resistant one. Do you know just how many times I’ve gone through this?” The doctor circled Ozul with his hands clasped behind his back. “I don’t think even the robots could keep count and believe me I’ve tried getting them to.”

“Sounds like a lack of skill to me.” Ozul retorted whilst giving the doctor a smirk.

“Lack of skill? Oh my dear boy if you're worried about my machinery skills then I think it can be arranged for me to show you just what I’ve been working on… I needed a test subject anyway.” Doctor Robotnik said, walking out of the room and shutting the door. The light within the room was gone, and the vent above him suddenly opened itself to allow more airflow. A colorless gas started to fill the room, Ozul tried to hold his breath but soon after his senses started failing, the feeling in his hands was gone, he could no longer smell the rust and machinery in the airship. A faint ringing the only noise he could hear and his vision started changing. His left eye felt like it was being pressed down upon and numbed, he tried to open it but couldn’t so he fought as hard as he could to keep his other eye open… But eventually failed that too. He couldn’t speak, and he could barely breathe. Listening to his heart as it slowed it’s beating steadily, all he could do was slump over and fall to the ground, the chair that his arms and legs had been tied to now a weight on top of him.

_-_-_-_

Shadow was trapped, just below him sat Doctor Robotnik who happened to be pressing buttons and watching something very intently on a monitor. If Shadow tried to crawl any further he was certain he’d be discovered. Plus even if he wanted to risk it a metal panel had come up not too far in front of him. So now, he had to watch.

“Shadow Androids, bring the new test subject out here at once and restrain him on the table. There is much to test.” The doctor commanded.

Shadow watched as Doctor Robotnik pressed a button on the console below him and the clanking of metal against the floor reverberated through the vents, eventually it grew distant and then all was quiet for a few moments. However not too long after the noise returned and became louder and louder. Shadow could just make out his partner's arm on the table and watched as Doctor Robotnik wheeled over a few carts and machines.

“First thing’s first, lets see if you're still alive.” Doctor Robotnik said, attaching some machine to the fool out of Shadow’s view.

“Hm, very slow BPM… but otherwise fine. Procedure should be easy enough but I’ll need to perhaps enhance the capabilities of this subject. Hm, perhaps I could ‘adjust’ the eyesight and make it much more… Resourceful. Yes, that seems like a brilliant plan! Why I could take all sorts of soldiers and turn them towards my army, and with a stealthy predator like this at my command I could so easily take whatever I wanted from under anyone’s nose, including the CHAOS EMERALDS!” Doctor Robotnik laughed maniacally at his new plot before moving away from the table and away from Shadow’s vision.

Now or never, Shadow assumed. Slowly he worked on the air duct cover under him and removed it, looking down with his head first. Assuring himself that no one was around Shadow dropped down and moved his way over to his foolish partner’s side and looked at him. From what Shadow could assess, he was out of it completely and probably would be for quite some time. However just as Shadow was about to try and figure out how to get the fool out of his restraints, steps on the stairs played out and the airship started to slow. Shadow hopped back into the vent system and listened closely.

“Sonic the Hedgehog, snooping as usual I- Oh… I could’ve sworn I heard someone down here.” Doctor Robotnik slowed from his grandeur entrance to a mumble as his realization set. 

Unfortunately for Shadow, the doctor seemed intent on staying in the room as he heard a distant airlock unseal. Several robots and Shadow Androids started unloading things from the airship and Doctor Robotnik followed closely behind the cart taking his partner into… Wherever they were. Shadow waited patiently until all sound had left and then dropped back down into the airship, creeping to the airlock and stepping out the door. To his surprise, it just seems to be the middle of a rather unremarkable jungle island. Looking to the distance he saw as a few robots sat outside a rather out of place lab door that led into a mountain of sorts. Knowing time was not on his side, Shadow ran towards the robots and wiped them out before they even had a chance to comprehend what happened. Taking a moment to look around to make sure there had been no witnesses Shadow then dragged most of the robots out of sight and moved to the door, which unfortunately would need a verified signature to enter… Specifically a facial recognition scan. Shadow picked up a close-by robot and held it to the panel, the door refusing to open. Shadow tossed it to the side and thought for a moment, this was going to be a very difficult mission if he couldn’t get in the building in the first place. Chaos Control wouldn’t work because he’d never been inside and there was no view into the building from a window, so if he tried to enter without any comprehension of the place his mind might be unable to process the shock and the new information, and none of the possible endings from there sounded all too pleasant. The only thing Shadow could do, was search the forest for a new entry or wait for someone to open the door. 

_-_-_-_

He was awoken slowly, though nothing responded to his will. The only sense that worked was sound.

“Such a sub rosa project that could surpass perhaps every other project to this point deserves a title befitting of it’s potential… Project: Eclipse. Yes, for it’s work for me shall eclipse my expectations, and finally Robotnikland will be mine!” The voice spoke from a distance through the room.

He could not discern much, darkness and a voice was all that he knew at the time, people and places no longer was something he could remember. Not even his name. He could remember he was a warrior of sorts, he could remember his skills. But not himself. The sound of fire and metal meeting placed very close to him. Slowly his vision turned from black to red in his left eye, scanlines and a fuzzy logo greeted him before becoming more clear. His right eye had still not opened and moving anything other than his eye was impossible, a looming figure towered over him.

“Wonderful!” The figure commented as he inspected the red eye.

Silence fell over the room before his viewpoint shifted, his body turned from sideways on the table to straight up and down along with the table now facing the figure.

“Welcome to the Robotnik Empire, Project: Eclipse. I am Doctor Robotnik, I am your creator and your master. You obey me and my orders. I see your new eye is working and your natural eye should awaken soon along with the rest of the rest of your senses. You have served me for a very long time, and as such you have extensive training that you may be able to remember. Unfortunately, an injury sustained in battle protecting the empire caused you to lose some of your memories, but do not fear for I was able to recover you.” His master, Doctor Robotnik said.

The doctor walked away and talked with a group of machines before coming back.

“When you come to, your first job is to drive away a  _ pest _ on our island. Your new eye will help you in tracking him, as well as anything I deem important to the mission. Now make the empire proud.” Doctor Robotnik said before walking off.

A few moments later, the restraints of the table released with a hiss.


	15. E Has Come To

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Notice: N/A  
> Word Count: 1379

His new eye was black, red outlines of robots and lifeforms the only sight. The first thing that returned to him was touch, the cold metal that pressed against fur and deeper. A phantom pain of sorts that hopefully would not need confronting any time soon. His other eye finally started to open, color slow to begin it’s return. He looked down, dressed in a camouflage pattern befitting a jungle. He took a step forward, and another, and another, and another. Passing computer terminals he exited the first door, then another door not too far ahead. In his new left eye a small arrow appeared pointing him to his northeast. So, he made his way past the robots and other computers and machines that whirred through the facility. The white door opened quickly in front of him, the blinding sun that rose over the distant ocean and skipped over the water ripples shone brightly. Though it didn’t matter, his march continued. The gentle brush of grass and leaves did not stop his march either, now speeding up and disappearing into the jungle.

_-_-_-_

Shadow sat a large rock between the beach and the ocean, the gentle breeze and calming waves not befitting of the current situation. He’d made sure to get the robots attention, hopefully Robotnik would send some of his forces out to capture him and he could continue with the mission from there. Sitting on the beach with no one else around was one of Shadow’s favorite things to do, no one to interrupt his thoughts and he could be alone for as long as he wanted. It was peaceful, one of the few relaxing moments he ever gets to experience in life. However, the gentle waves of the ocean betray the unspoken tension of time. However until they send someone to capture him, he can sit here and be calm. Bringing out his Chaos Emerald he tosses and turns it over in his hand, feeling through the bumps and edges. 

_-_-_-_

He sat behind his target by the cover of grass and sand intertwining. His form low and his body ready he rounded the corner and came to be on the beach with him no more than 12 steps away. He slowly shifted a leg backwards, digging through the sand. With ferocity he jumped through the target. Knocking the two of them to the ground next to the shore. The clattering of glass played out and a jewel started to drift towards the endless ocean. Quickly the target scrambled from beneath him and jumped into the ocean to give chase for the jewel. He soon followed after, the two fighting each over the object as it started to sink. He hit the target with a solid blow to the cheek and watched as the body went under. For a moment he thought he had won, but quickly realized that he may only be after his jewel. He plunged into the water and swam as fast as he could toward the target, grabbing his leg and pulling him backwards as the precious jewel sat on the sandy floor below. The two now reached the surface once more. He was about to charge straight at the target and push him into the rock he’d been knocked off of when suddenly the target dipped under him at the last second and disappeared into the water below. He dove down once again but found both the jewel and the target to be missing. He swam back to surface and shore, taking a long look around with his new eye. No target in sight, mission successful.

_-_-_-_

Shadow lay face down, the annoying tickle of grass and the sting of pain in his cheek which soon followed after more stings fading in the only sign of life for him. Eventually using his arms he weakly pushed himself to a sitting position, he was in a forest. Wait no, he was facing a forest… where exactly was he? Shadow couldn’t tell, his vision still blurry and stinging with pain from the sand in his eye. As his vision cleared he could make out a building of some sort, a house possibly. He moved to sit up straight but instead hit against a metal wall harshly with a loud bang. Shadow quickly recoiled in pain and held his head, now laying on his side. Footsteps quickly approached him but started to slow as they drew closer. The shadow that hung over him disappeared into a crouch.

“Are you alright?” a distant ringing voice asked.

Shadow, unable to respond just moved his head up a little in acknowledgement.

“Here, let’s get you inside.” The voice said, it was more clear now. However the most Shadow could discern was that it was recognizable.

Unwillingly he was almost completely picked up by his new caretaker, his vision mostly consisted of grass however occasionally he caught glimpses of a white door. As he entered the home the first thing he denoted was that it smelt like flowers, fresh wood, and a mixture of other pleasant smells. It felt warm and inviting, it was a home. Gently in the background some otherwise unintelligible music played as he was laid to rest on a couch and his caretaker/kidnapper disappeared up a staircase. Slowly the ringing in his ears came to rest, the music spoke of a long and winding road though despite it’s beauty was merely an afterthought. Where exactly… was he? The sharp pain had started to fade and at some point the Chaos Emerald had been wrestled from his hand and put onto the table in front of him. He lay rather comfortably on a pillow and a thin blanket covered him. He thought for a moment, there was certainly no way this had been arranged in this short of a time. He listened once more, the music now spoke of rain and was much further, the song seemingly off-speed. Shadow could’ve sworn the song that had been playing earlier had been nothing like that. His body silently wept and ached as he removed the blanket and pushed himself to an upright position. The music suddenly switched off and a screen door from the side of the kitchen opened. Shadow barely had time to stretch his sore limbs before the footsteps of someone came very close and then walked in front of him.

“How are you doing now?” Amy Rose asked.

“F-fine…” Shadow muttered, he pushed himself off the couch and Amy tried to push him back down but he set his hands on his shoulders and looked into her eyes.

“What is it?” Amy asked in a hushed whisper.

“They’ve taken… him. They made him a soldier.” Shadow said, his eyes distant as if looking through Amy.

“Who’s been taken, who are they?” Amy asked again.

“Robotnik, he’s taken my… My… My partner.” Shadow said, the words felt right in a way, the sudden tug at his heartstrings left him with few other words. He continued before Amy could speak. “They’re turning him into a machine, and I fear Robotnik plans to take the world once more, something big is coming…”

Amy’s expression fights over what is most important, as if she’s having an internal discussion.

Shadow simply pats her shoulder and starts to leave out the door.

“Wait Shadow! You’ve left your Chaos Emerald!” Amy calls after him, Shadow stopping in the door frame.

“I won’t need it as much as Tails will.” Shadow states before disappearing in a blur towards the bigger city, and towards G.U.N.

The conflict has only just begun, a terrible war only lies beyond. Shadow dashes through the city at a blistering pace in an attempt to reach home faster. He has a mission now, one that feels more important than ever. The Robotnik plot looms closer than what Sonic and friends may now think, and it’s danger is unmistakable. Shadow now can only hope the fox’s genius can outwit the doctor’s.G.U.N also will have to work with Shadow, and he’ll likely be working alongside Rouge and Omega again. Sonic and his friends along with G.U.N is a very strong combination, but from what Shadow can tell, Robotnik’s plan is stronger than ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a cliffhanger, eh? Well I'll be honest with you while writing this I actually had envisioned an entirely different story and sought out a way to make them connect but before any of that I wanted to know if there was any interest in the idea and it seems like there is! So allow me to formally welcome you to the Terios Trilogy. Heavily inspired by some of my favorite media forms such as Metal Gear Solid, Hitman, the James Bond films, and more. With this announcement means I'm going to be taking a short break and you won't see me for awhile until I can at least get to chapter 7 (Still trying to lay ground work and finish the Prologue). So until then, I'll see ya' around.


End file.
